Bernhard Kohl ─ the Austrian rider who tested positive for the blood-booster CERA during last year’s Tour de France ─ admitted that blood doping was the most effective way to cheat.
In an extensive interview with the French sports daily L’Equipe, Kohl said extractions of blood began nearly a year before competition.
“It was in August, 2007, when I submitted to the first extraction of blood destined to be used in the 2008 Tour. The second was in November, a liter each time,” Kohl told L’Equipe. “I had two liters at my disposition for July 2008. My blood was prepared, the plasma globules separated, coded and frozen.”
Kohl outlined when he would re-inject the blood into his system before key moments of the race, giving his system extra capacity to carry oxygen to his muscles needed to propel him up the torturous mountain roads.
“Four pouches of 0.5 liters each of blood, that’s it,” he said. “The first transfusion was after stage 6, the second before the Pyrénées and the third, before the Alps.”
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