Former T-Mobile cyclist, Erik Zabel, reacts during a news conference of the German T-Mobile cycling team in Bonn, yesterday. Zabel, one of Germany's most successful cyclists, admitted to taking the banned substance, erythropoietin (EPO), and apologised for lying about it. - Reuters

BERLIN, (Reuters):

FORMER TEAM T-Mobile cyclist Erik Zabel yesterday admitted to using the banned substance erythropoietin (EPO) at the 1996 Tour de France, in the latest doping revelation by a member of the German team.

"In my case, I decided to use EPO shortly before the (1996 Tour de France)," Zabel, at times close to tears and with a trembling voice, told a televised news conference in Bonn.

"I lied and I'm sorry. It was a one-off test and then at the end of the first week I stopped the test because I had substantial problems with side-effects," added Zabel, who now rides for Team Milram.

The 36-year-old said he no longer used EPO.

A six-time winner of the green jersey for best sprinter at the Tour de France, Zabel is one of the biggest names to come clean about doping.

The winner of 12 Tour stages is the latest in a growing list of former riders from Team Telekom - the predecessor to T-Mobile - to confess their transgressions this week.

T-Mobile's sporting director, Rolf Aldag, also admitted using the banned substance as a professional cyclist on the Telekom team in the mid-1990s, when it was one of the sport's dominant teams.

"Before the (Tour de France) in 1995 I began using EPO and continued using it," Aldag said, yesterday.

Outspoken critic

He has been an outspoken critic of doping and always denied using banned substances. He apologised for lying and said he was ashamed.

Zabel and Aldag both said doping had been part of everyday life in professional cycling and testing was extremely patchy. Nothing much had changed, they added.

"The sport had and still has a massive problem with doping," Aldag said, adding that he wanted to help clean it up.

He said he did not know whether former rider and 1997 Tour cham-pion Jan Ullrich had used banned substances.

Doping revelations

Ullrich has strongly denied any involvement in doping in the past and his lawyer said in a television interview earlier yesterday that his client would not be commenting on the doping revelations for the time being.

T-Mobile general manager Bob Stapleton said at yesterday's news conference he had rejected Aldag's offer to resign.

"He has my support and I want to continue working with him," Stapleton said. "Rolf was part of the past, but he must be part of the future too if we want to be successful."

Two other ex-Team Telekom riders - Bert Dietz and Christian Henn - said earlier this week they were part of a systematic doping regime on the team that won the Tour de France in 1996 (Bjarne Riis) and 1997 (Ullrich).

A third former-Telekom rider, Udo Boelts, admitted in a television interview on Wednesday that he used EPO in 1995/96.

Two University of Freiburg doctors, who worked with T-Mobile until recently, said in statements late on Wednesday that they they helped the riders use EPO in the 1990s.

They were released by the University yesterday, which also announced it would examine whether to close its sports medicine programme.

Deutsche Telekom said, yesterday it planned to remain involved in cycling as a sponsor but the entire doping issue had to be cleared up.

Eberhard Gienger, vice-president of Germany's Olympic Federation (DOSB), welcomed the doping admissions and said he hoped it would pave the way for others outside Germany to come clean.