Leipheimer the Newest Target of Doping Allegations
A Leipheimer training montage from 2005, the year in which he is accused of doping.Levi Leipheimer is the the most recent American cyclist to be added to the list of alleged dopers, reports cycling site VeloNews.com.
One of Leipheimer's rest-day blood tests during the 2005 Tour de France "showed a very high probability of manipulation," former manager of Gerolsteiner Hans-Michael Holczer told journalists at a news conference discussing the release of his memoirs,“Garantiert Positiv” ("Guaranteed Positive"), according to Cyclingnews.com.
As team manager, Holczer was aware of this, but faced a dilemma: remove Leipheimer from the race and disqualify the team (Danilo Hondo had already been dropped for doping and two riders caught automatically disqualifies the team) or let Leipheimer continue racing. Holczer was afraid that Gerolsteiner would pull their sponsorship from the team, Cycling News reports.
The accusation comes amongst a rash of doping investigations already underway, including a high profile investigation of Lance Armstrong after comments from Floyd Landis.
--Will Taylor
