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ORTHEZ, France — Tour de France rider Alexandre Vinokourov insists he did not cheat, claiming his Astana team is being persecuted.
On Tuesday, the Kazakh rider tested positive for a blood transfusion in a blood sample taken after he won Saturday's time trial by over a minute from his rivals. On Monday, Vinokourov also won Stage 15 — a tough climb in the Pyrenees.
"It's a mistake. I never doped, that's not the way I see my profession," Vinokourov told Wednesday's edition of sports daily L'Equipe. I think it's a mistake in part due to my crash. I have spoken to the team doctors who had a hypothesis that there was an enormous amount of blood in my thighs, which could have led to my positive test.
On Wednesday, a senior French doping official said another Tour de France rider has failed a doping test, this time for testosterone,
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Vinokourov, meanwhile, claims to be the victim of a "provocation."
"It's been going on for months and today they're managing to demolish me," he said. "The setting up of our team made a lot of people jealous and now we're paying the price. It's a shame to leave the Tour this way, but I don't want to waste time in proving my innocence."
Even though his career is facing ruin, Vinokourov managed to joke about his situation.
"I heard that I made a transfusion with my father's blood," Vinokourov said. "That's absurd, I can tell you that with his blood, I would have tested positive for vodka."
British rider David Millar — who has admitted to a doping past — said he felt saddened by the news. Learning of it during a news conference Tuesday, Millar was close to tears.
"I'm so shocked. . . . 'Vino' was one of my heroes," Millar said. "I don't know what to think. I get the impression that the riders will never understand. For me, it's horrible, but for the young riders coming up, it's worse."
