Andreas Kloeden named in doping report

German cycling team Telekom, later known as T-Mobile, was guilty of systematic doping between 1995 and 2006, Der Spiegel magazine claims in Monday's edition.

The report, based on the conclusions of an independent inquiry, accuses former T-Mobile riders Andreas Kloeden, who now rides for Astana, and Matthias Kessler, who was sacked by Astana in 2007, of using testosterone and doping products.

Both went to Freiburg University to have blood transfusions on July 2 2006 along with team-mate Patrik Sinkewitz, who later made his confession to a German Cycling Union (BDR) inquiry, the report claims.

In July 2007, Sinkewitz was fired by T-Mobile after a test revealed he had abnormally high levels of testosterone and he later admitted using a banned gel and using banned blood-booster EPO as well as having had blood transfusions.

He was later banned for a year and heavily fined by the BDR, but is still fighting a lawsuit over damages from his 2007 doping offence.

The commission's report could now have serious legal consequences for the cyclists named, says Der Speigel.

Having started life as Team Telekom, the German team is now known as Team Columbia-High Road having changed its name from T-Mobile in 2007.

For the last two years, the independent commission on behalf of Freiburg University has been looking into the conduct of team doctors Lothar Heinrich and Andreas Schmid who were both sacked from the university in 2007.

The doctors admitted two years ago that they had been involved in doping Telekom cyclists back in 1999 and were later dismissed while the report says they falsified documents and masked payments.

The 64-page report concludes doping was widespread up until 2006 after the inquiry heard testimonies from 77 witnesses and evaluated 58,000 blood samples, while also looking at the German team's accounts.