Lance Armstrong’s former physician Michele Ferrari has been ordered to stand trial for allegedly providing doping assistance to a biathlete.
The Italian biathlete Daniel Taschler and his father, Gottlieb, a vice-president of the international federation were also indicted by a preliminary judge in Bolzano, northern Italy, on Wednesday.
The older Taschler is accused of recommending that his son use Ferrari for doping, and contacting the doctor.
Ferrari was banned for life by the Italian Cycling Federation in 2002. He recently appealed to a regional court to have the ban lifted, with a decision expected in the coming months. Ferrari was also banned for life by the United States Anti-Doping Agency in the 2012 case that led to Armstrong being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles. The trial is slated to start in April.
Doping is a crime in Italy and Ferrari was cleared on appeal in 2006 of criminal charges of distributing banned products to athletes.
Italian cycling president: police must act to stop Michele Ferrari influence
Taschler Sr is a vice-president and member of the International Biathlon Union executive board. When the investigation was made public late last year, he announced he would not carry out activities within the IBU. As a biathlete, he won a bronze medal in relay at the 1988 Calgary Olympics.
Daniel Taschler, 28, was a member of Italy’s B squad when the inquiry surfaced, and he was immediately suspended. His doping allegedly took place in the 2010-11 season. Ferrari and the Taschlers deny wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, the Austrian cross-country skier Harald Wurm has been provisionally suspended amid a doping investigation, a week before the start of the World Cup season.
The Austrian ski federation said the head coach of the cross-country team, Gerald Heigl, temporarily stepped down until Wurm’s case is completed. Heigl denied any involvement.
In August, police opened an investigation into alleged doping violations by Wurm and searched the premises of the two-time Olympian.
The federation said it had access to police files and expected that Wurm has a case to answer. The 31-year-old athlete was excluded from all team training and competitions, just over a week before the World Cup opener in Ruka, Finland, on 28-29 November.
Heigl’s name also appeared in the files, according to the federation. The coach denied any wrongdoing but decided to step down until his name has been cleared.
Wurm won the under-23 world title in 2006 and has four top-10 World Cup finishes. He competed in the sprint events at the 2006 and 2014 Olympics.
Last year, Wurm’s team-mate Johannes Dürr was banned for life by the federation after being kicked out of the 2014 Sochi Games for using the blood-doping agent EPO. If found guilty, Wurm will also be expelled from the federation, it said.
Wurm’s case could deal another blow to the already tarnished image of Austrian cross-country skiing, less than four years before Seefeld will host the Nordic world championships. In December 2009, Christian Hoffmann retired after he was provisionally suspended for blood doping by the national anti-doping agency, which later formally banned the 2002 Olympic champion for six years.
The Austrian Nordic skiing coach Walter Mayer was implicated in a blood-doping case at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games and banned by the International Olympic Committee from Turin 2006 and Vancouver 2010.
Mayer, however, did show up at the 2006 Olympics, triggering an Italian police raid on the Austrian team lodgings, in which blood doping equipment and other substances were seized. No Austrians tested positive at those games but the IOC later banned several for life.
