Bernhard Kohl

Bernhard Kohl (born 4 January 1982 in Vienna) is an Austrian former professional road bicycle racer and recognized climbing specialist. After the Gerolsteiner team announced they would not be in existence for the 2009 season, Kohl signed with UCI ProTeam Silence–Lotto for three years. His biggest career achievements include becoming the Austrian national road race champion in 2006,[1] finishing third place overall in the Dauphiné Libéré and winning the mountains classification in the 2008 Tour de France. He was 73 seconds behind winner Carlos Sastre at the completion of the event, finishing in third place in the General classification.

Bernhard Kohl
Austrian bicycle racer Bernhard Kohl during the "Nightrace .07"
in Waidhofen an der Ybbs on 24 August 2007
Personal information
Full nameBernhard Kohl
Born (1982-01-04) 4 January 1982
Vienna, Austria
Height1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight61 kg (134 lb)
Team information
Current teamRetired
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider
Rider typeClimber
Amateur teams
2002Elk Haus
2003–2004Rabobank GSIII
Professional teams
2005–2006T-Mobile Team
2007–2008Gerolsteiner
Major wins
Austrian National Road Race champion (2006)

He was banned from the sport for two years after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs in October 2008. On 25 May 2009, he announced his retirement from the sport, claiming that it is "impossible to win without doping" in international cycling.[2]

Doping

On 13 October 2008, L'Equipe announced that Kohl had tested positive for CERA (continuous erythropoitin receptor activator, a third-generation variant of erythropoietin, aka EPO) used during the Tour de France.[3] On the 15th he admitted his drug use.[4] His results were removed, but his third-place finish in the 2008 Tour and his first place in the mountains classification have not been remade. If they ever are Denis Menchov of Rabobank would become the third-place finisher, while Carlos Sastre of CSC–Saxo Bank, overall winner of the Tour, would become winner of the mountains classification. The next day, Silence-Lotto terminated Kohl's contract with the team.[5] Several journalists had also nominated Kohl to receive the Austrian Sportspersonality of the year award, but he was removed from the contenders list.[6] On 24 November 2008, Kohl was banned for two years by the Austrian anti-doping agency (NADA).[7]

His ex-manager, Stefan Matschiner, was arrested on 31 March 2009 in Austria and charged with selling doping substances. Kohl stated that he was "not surprised" by the arrest.[8] In an exclusive interview with L'Equipe, the Austrian detailed how he "prepared" himself for the 2008 Tour and received blood transfusions from his manager during the event. The International Cycling Union 's (UCI) biological passport failed to prevent Kohl from practicing blood doping on a regular basis during his career, he said. "The top riders are so professional in their doping that they know very well they have to keep their blood values stable not to be detected".[9]

Kohl's results for the 2008 Tour de France have been removed in the official Tour de France results, but the definitive classification has not been published yet.[10]

Major results
Bernhard Kohl wears the polka dot jersey of the Tour de France at the city centre criterium in Wels (Austria) on 30 July 2008
2002 – Rabobank Continental Team
(U23)  Austria National Road Race Champion
(U23) version – Rund um den Henninger Turm
2004 – Rabobank (Amateur Team)
Tour of the Pyrenees
2005 – T-Mobile Team

First year as a professional

7th Overall Tour of Austria
2006 – T-Mobile Team
3rd Overall Dauphiné Libéré
2007
2008
6th Overall Bayern-Rundfahrt
3rd Overall 2008 Tour de France
1st Mountains Classification

References
  1. "National Championship, Road, Elite, Austria (Men)". Cycling Archives. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  2. "Ohne Doping kannst du nicht gewinnen". radsport-news.com. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  3. "Kohl a triché lui aussi". Lequipe.fr. 13 October 2008. Archived from the original on 22 January 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  4. "Kohl admits doping". Bikeradar.com. 15 October 2008. Archived from the original on 11 November 2017. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  5. "Kohl dropped by team after failing doping test". The Guardian. London. 14 October 2008. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
  6. "Best climber caught". The Straits Times. Retrieved 4 February 2009.
  7. "Dopingverfahren Bernhard KOHL (Radsport)" (PDF) (in German). Nationale Anti-Doping Agentur Austria. 24 November 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 24 July 2009.
  8. Kohl's Ex-Manager Arrested
  9. Bernhard, Kohl. "Doping Bernhard KOHL". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  10. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 October 2009. Retrieved 3 July 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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