Bernhard Kohl

Bernhard Kohl (born 4 January 1982) is an Austrian former professional road bicycle racer and recognized climbing specialist. After the Gerolsteiner team announced they would not be in existence for the 2009 season, Kohl signed with UCI ProTeam Silence–Lotto for three years. His biggest career achievements include becoming the Austrian national road race champion in 2006, finishing third place overall in the Dauphiné Libéré and winning the mountains classification in the 2008 Tour de France. He was 73 seconds behind winner Carlos Sastre at the completion of the event, finishing in third place in the General classification.

He was banned from the sport for two years after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs in October 2008. On 25 May 2009, he announced his retirement from the sport, claiming that it is "impossible to win without doping" in international cycling.

Doping

On 13 October 2008, L'Équipe announced that Kohl had tested positive for CERA (continuous erythropoitin receptor activator, a third-generation variant of erythropoietin, aka EPO) used during the Tour de France. On the 15th he admitted his drug use. His results were removed, but his third-place finish in the 2008 Tour and his first place in the mountains classification have not been remade. If they ever are Denis Menchov of Rabobank would become the third-place finisher, while Carlos Sastre of CSC–Saxo Bank, overall winner of the Tour, would become winner of the mountains classification. The next day, Silence–Lotto terminated Kohl's contract with the team. Several journalists had also nominated Kohl to receive the Austrian Sportspersonality of the year award, but he was removed from the contenders list. On 24 November 2008, Kohl was banned for two years by the Austrian anti-doping agency (NADA).

His ex-manager, Stefan Matschiner, was arrested on 31 March 2009 in Austria and charged with selling doping substances. Kohl stated that he was "not surprised" by the arrest. In an exclusive interview with L'Équipe, the Austrian detailed how he "prepared" himself for the 2008 Tour and received blood transfusions from his manager during the event. The International Cycling Union 's (UCI) biological passport failed to prevent Kohl from practicing blood doping on a regular basis during his career, he said. "The top riders are so professional in their doping that they know very well they have to keep their blood values stable not to be detected".

Kohl's results for the 2008 Tour de France have been removed in the official Tour de France results, but the definitive classification has not been published yet.

Major results

2000

3rd Overall Internationale Niedersachsen-Rundfahrt der Junioren

8th Overall Internationale Oberösterreich Rundfahrt Junioren

2002

1st Road race, National Under-23 Road Championships

1st Rund um den Henninger Turm Under-23

4th Road race, National Road Championships

6th Overall Grand Prix Guillaume Tell

7th Overall Uniqa Classic

2003

2nd Road race, National Under-23 Road Championships

2nd Overall Thüringen Rundfahrt

5th Road race, National Road Championships

5th Overall Triptyque Ardennais

10th Liège–Bastogne–Liège Espoirs

2004

1st Overall Tour des Pyrénées

4th Circuit de Wallonie

2005

7th Overall Tour of Austria

2006

1st Road race, National Road Championships

3rd Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré

5th Overall Tour of Austria

2008

3rd Overall Tour de France 1st Mountains classification

6th Overall Bayern Rundfahrt

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

External links

• at Cycling Archives ()