Austrian cyclist Kohl gets 2-year doping ban

Published 10:36 am Wednesday, January 21, 2009

VIENNA, Austria — Austrian cyclist Bernhard Kohl accepted a two-year ban Wednesday for using the blood booster CERA at last year’s Tour de France.

The third-place finisher at the Tour said he would not appeal the ban, handed down in November by Austria’s anti-doping agency.

The agency gave Kohl a two-year ban Nov. 24. The penalty could have been reduced had he fully cooperated with the anti-doping authorities. While Kohl cooperated, he refused to disclose the identity of his supplier.

“I had hoped that the penalty for a cooperative athlete would not be the same as for an uncooperative one,” Kohl said in a statement on his Web site.

Kohl admitted last fall that he used CERA, which is the latest version of the endurance-boosting hormone EPO.