“We condemn Erik’s actions, but we do not condemn the person. That is why we now want to find a new way of working together”
As expected, Canyon has decided to end to Erik Zabel’s role working with the ‘Young Heroes’ programme, saying that it is disappointed to hear that he doped for much of his career. The bicycle company has also called a halt to his brand ambassador role, but will give him a different slot in the near future.
“We do not accept doping of any kind and were deeply disappointed to hear about Erik’s latest statement on his past,” stated company CEO Roman Arnold in a statement.
“The consequence of this is that Erik will no longer be able to continue his function as Canyon’s brand ambassador, nor will he continue his role as the mentor of the Young Heroes Team.
“We have achieved a great deal together with Erik over the last few years and have come to know him as not only an exceptional sportsman, but also as a great person. He has also played an important part in the development of Canyon and we understand that nobody is suffering due to these recent revelations about his past more than Erik.”
Zabel made a limited admission to the use of banned substances in 2007, saying that he tried EPO for a very short period in 1996, but stopped due to bad side effects. That statement was proven to be false eight days ago when the French Senate published its report on doping.
It included results from the 1998 Tour de France, with retests carried out in 2004 but not disclosed until now, showing that Zabel had two positive tests for EPO during that race.
Soon after he told sueddeutsche.de that he had actually used the substance between 1996 and 2003, and also utilised cortisone and blood transfusions.
“Above all, I wanted to keep my life, my dream life as a professional cyclist,” he said, in relation to his 2007 mistruths.
Arnold said today that he believes the industry is in general not treating those who admit their guilt fairy.
“We have all benefitted immensely from the enthusiasm that has been generated for the sport and have always distanced ourselves from “individual cases”. However there simply are no “individual cases”, but we are talking about real people and individuals here who cannot simply be reduced to mere doping perpetrators,” he stated.
As a result, he said that he didn’t want to follow what he said was the typical example of the professional cycling world and the general public simply to make things easier for the company.
Instead, he said that he believes Zabel has qualities that must not be punished with a quick reaction.
“Our values dictate that we do not impose across the board sanctions on people who we have built relationships with based on trust,” he said. “We condemn Erik’s actions, but we do not condemn the person. That is why we now want to find a new way of working together with Erik in the future.
“We will be starting a new project in the coming weeks which we have been considering for some time and specifically involves our general attitude to cycle sport. We will be asking Erik to help us with this new project,” he concluded, saying that further developments will be announced soon.