Husband of French cyclist Jeannie Longo charged over EPO purchases

Feb 10, 2012, 14:37 GMT

Paris - Patrice Ciprelli, husband and trainer of French champion cyclist Jeannie Longo, was charged Friday with acquiring the banned performance enhancer EPO after admitting as much to police, France's L'Equipe sports daily reported.

Ciprelli, who was arrested on Wednesday, admitted under questioning Thursday to buying EPO over a three-year period, but insisted it was for his personal use, to help him recover from 'repeated biking accidents,' the report said.

A magistrate in Grenoble released Ciprelli on probation after charging him with customs violations and breaching regulations on the trade of dangerous substances, L'Equipe added.

The sports ministry in a statement announced it had suspended Ciprelli as a technical advisor.

The charges, which come five months after L'Equipe revealed that Ciprelli had bought Chinese EPO online in 2007, have raised questions about Longo's performances.

Considered one of the greatest women cyclists of all time the 53-year-old winner of the road race event at the 1996 Olympic Games regularly beats cyclists half her age.

She placed 24th in the road race at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Ciprelli's lawyer Pierre Albert was quoted by L'Equipe as saying the trainer had bought 1,500 euros (about 2,000 dollars) worth of EPO over a three-year period.

Tthe EPO was first-generation EPO, which shows up easily in doping tests, Albert said.

'That's not how you dope a thoroughbred or a high performance athlete,' he said, adding Longo 'could not be suspected.'