Second Austrian cyclist admits to doping as scandal deepens

AFP  |  Vienna 

A second Austrian has admitted to doping after six athletes were arrested last week in a probe into an international doping ring, Austrian media reported Monday.

told the Kronen newspaper that he "couldn't live with this secret any longer" and had handed himself in to police in the city of

"The past few days have been a nightmare. I didn't know if I would get found out. I didn't know whether this doping doctor had concealed everything," Preidler said.

He said that he had been sought out by the doping ring and had only started doping "recently", insisting that his professional successes -- such as at the Giro d'-- had been "clean".

"It was the biggest mistake of my life," he added.

On Sunday prosecutors announced that another cyclist -- named in Austrian media as -- had admitted to doping offences.

Some of the raids last week centred on the Austrian resort of Seefeld, where the Nordic skiing world championships were being held.

Five skiers were arrested: two Austrians, and Max Hauke, Estonians and Andreas Veerpalu, and Kazakh

Footage later posted on showed Hauke apparently caught red-handed with a needle in his arm during the police raid with an looking on.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Mon, March 04 2019. 19:40 IST