Zabel out of Olympics, uncertain for World's

Following a meeting with the German Olympic Committee (DOSB) on Tuesday, Erik Zabel will not be part of the German team at next year's Olympic Games in Beijing. Zabel, who admitted to using the banned blood booster EPO in 1996, met with DOSB president Thomas Back and secretary general Michael Vesper in Frankfurt where he decided to withdraw from the Olympic road race so as not to "burden the German Olympic team with his doping past," according to a DOSB statement.

The Milram rider's participation in this year's World Road Championships in Stuttgart remains undecided. Zabel has finished second twice at the World's, in 2004 and 2006, and the German cycling federation will decide in the coming days whether he is eligible for selection, although it has a policy of not selecting athletes convicted or suspected of doping.