Michele Ferrari

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Michele Ferrari (born March 26, 1953 in Ferrara ) is an Italian sports doctor who is known for doping sports fraud . He has been known as " Dottore EPO " in the cycling scene for years . He has been charged several times in Italy for dealing in illegal pharmaceuticals . He became internationally known for supplying Lance Armstrong with doping drugs.

Career

Ferrari began as a student of Francesco Conconi , who is now also being investigated for doping-related offenses. Ferrari later left Conconi's institute in Ferrara, the "epicenter of Italian doping" (Gazzetta dello sport), and went into business for himself. Until a few years ago, Ferrari and Conconi were considered to be the (sports medicine) driving forces behind the successful Italian endurance athletes in skiing, running and cycling. Conconi and Ferrari have long been suspected of having made their protégés fast with EPO. The respected French daily Le Monde once called Conconi the "father of EPO". Ferrari once compared the dangerousness of EPO with that of orange juice in an interview ("It's all a question of dosage").

Michele Ferrari has been charged with various anti-doping law violations in multiple trials. In the autumn of 2004 he was sentenced to one year probation in Bologna for sports fraud, and he was also banned from working for eleven months. At that time Ferrari had a list of 23 renowned customers from the scene: Lance Armstrong , Alessandro Bertolini , Gianluca Bortolami , Gianni Bugno , Mario Cipollini , Claudio Chiappucci , Armand de Las Cuevas , Fernando Escartín , Gianni Faresin , Giorgio Furlan , Ivan Gotti , Andreas Kappes , Kevin Livingston , Eddy Mazzoleni , Axel Merckx , Abraham Olano , Daniele Pontoni , Tony Rominger , Paolo Savoldelli , Filippo Simeoni , Pavel Tonkov , Enrico Zaina and Beat Zberg .

Lance Armstrong tried to keep his Ferrari connection a secret. However, research by the Sunday Times finally brought the secret to light. The American described the dottore as a "man of honor", but officially ended the collaboration when he was convicted. In the process, Ferrari was heavily burdened by the Italian professional cyclist Filippo Simeoni , who told meticulously how the sports doctor works. Ferrari's motto has always been: Only what comes out of the controls is doping. "Ferrari has instructed me in the morning before a control Emagel to use and on the eve of an expected control albumin , to dilute the blood if the hematocrit was higher than 50," said Simeoni among others. The Italian was reprimanded by Armstrong for his testimony and bullied in the races.

However, none of the drivers tested positive. After the serious doping allegations against sports medicine specialist Michele Ferrari, the Italian Olympic Committee CONI suspended the doctor for life as a trainer and sports doctor. The Italian sports doctor Luigi Cecchini is considered his student.

In the course of investigations by the Padua Public Prosecutor's Office , Ferrari was accused at the end of 2014 of being part of a 30-person criminal gang that reportedly generated sales of over 30 million euros with the doping preparation of racing cyclists. The allegation is of the formation of a criminal organization, tax evasion and money laundering. Doping is said to have attempted to increase the market value of drivers and to invest the income generated through money laundering, particularly in the real estate sector. In this context, a list of 38 drivers was revealed who are said to have been part of the customer base, including Filippo Pozzato , Vladimir Karpets , Alexandr Kolobnev , Roman Kreuziger and Denis Menchov . He is also said to have worked illegally for drivers of the Astana Pro Team on behalf of Alexandre Vinokourov , who is also said to have been a customer as a driver .

In April 2017, Ferrari was sentenced to a suspended sentence of 1 year and 6 months and a fine of 4,500 euros at the Bolzano regional court for aiding and abetting doping in the case of the biathlete Daniel Taschler .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. cyclingnews.com from December 14, 2012: Visconti banned for three months for Dr. Ferrari left
  2. ↑ Gazzetta: Criminal gang earned money from doping. .radsport-news.com, December 12, 2014, accessed December 11, 2014 .
  3. ^ Gazetta dello Sport: Systematic doping in Astana. radsport-news.com, December 10, 2014, accessed December 11, 2014 .
  4. ↑ Doping: Court condemns Gottlieb and Daniel Taschler ( Memento from April 3, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Ferrari, Michele
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian sports doctor
DATE OF BIRTH March 26, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Ferrara