CSC team doctors respond to Jaksche

CSC team doctors have retorted to Jörg Jaksche's interview in Der Spiegel. The German rode for the team in 2004 and has recently come out in the media making statements trying to explain the doping system in cycling.

He had spent years with Manolo Saiz's ONCE and Liberty Seguros but in between was one year with CSC. He noted the training controls were "pretty lax." Jaksche said he stopped taking EPO after the 2004 Paris-Nice, as it had become too risky. "Cortisone, however, we took pretty much all season long," he admitted of that year.

Doctors Joost De Maeseneer, Piet De Moor and Piet Danneels noted in their press release that "The medical staff of Team CSC has always been working in an ethical, professional way. In case of illness or injury's we try to help our riders, by treating them according to the rules of the UCI (eg. medication, physiotherapy, etc.)

"No products were used that are on the prohibited list. The use of glucocorticosteriods for injury's (local infiltrations) and beta – 2 agonists (by inhalation) is part of our treatment-possibilities. We only use these when that treatment is medically appropriate and the use of alternative medications, not on the Prohibited List, would be unsatisfactory for this condition. In those cases, the UCI was always informed, the TUE (Therapeutic Use Exemption) was signed by the cyclist and one of our medical doctors."

Team CSC has led the way with their own anti-doping program in the wake of recent scandals. The statement reminded the public of this stance. "We support the new UCI ProTour Anti-Doping Programme 100% against doping completely."