A former teammate of retired Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich has admitted using banned performance-enhancing drugs with the assistance of two team doctors.
Bert Dietz, who rode for the Telekom team between 1994 and 1998, said he was introduced to the use of the blood booster EPO by the two doctors, Andreas Schmid and Lothar Heinrich.
Dietz spoke in an interview on national television and became the first rider to acknowledge doping among the team, now known as T-Mobile.
He did not implicate any other riders from the team, but said they must have been aware of what was going on.
Dietz said the two doctors introduced EPO in 1995, explaining the way it
functions and the risks connected to taking it.
"If we wanted to ride at the top, we would likely have to take it," Dietz said.
"They offered it, but in such a form that everyone knew: If I don't take it now, I'll probably have such bad results at the of the season that my contract would not be extended. It was clear," Dietz said.
The two doctors were recently suspended by the team.