Kopp blames it on a drink

David Kopp has denied intentionally using the cocaine which was found in a doping control last September, saying someone must have spiked his drink at a club two days earlier. The German cycling federation announced the positive test on Thursday, saying it had only just been notified by the Belgian federation and the International Cycling Union (UCI).

The positive test was on September 11, when Kopp placed third in a Belgian criterium race for Continental Team Cycle-Colstrop. Interviewed on Radsport-News.com, Kopp said that he had not used the illegal drug willingly. "I was in a club two days before the race. I was frustrated and drank too much. It is very possible that someone slipped something in my drink, and I didn't notice it," he said.

In October 2008, the now retired Kopp was notified by the Flemish cycling federation about the positive control. Out of financial grounds he declined to have the B sample opened. Since then, he said, he had heard nothing more about the matter until the BDR's announcement on Thursday. (SW)