The head carer, or soigneur, for Ineos Grenadiers has left the Tour de France after the team said he had been asked to attend an interview with the International Testing Agency (ITA). The agency performs dope tests and also carries out doping-related investigations based on intelligence.
Confirming Rozman had left the Tour, Ineos Grenadiers also said the Slovenian was contacted "informally" by the ITA back in April and that he made the team aware. Rozman told the team he was informed by the ITA he was not under investigation.
In response to the ITA contact in April, and after being informed about it by Rozman, the team says it moved immediately to arrange a review by a law firm.
"Following recent media allegations, David has now received a request from the ITA to attend an interview," Ineos Grenadiers stated in a statement released on Thursday, after initially declining to comment.
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"Accordingly, he has stepped back from race duties and has left the Tour. To date, the team has received no evidence from any relevant authority. In response to the team’s request for information, the ITA has advised the team that it cannot share any further information due to legal and confidentiality restrictions.
"Both David and the team will of course cooperate with the ITA and any other authority. The team reiterates its zero-tolerance policy and is unable to comment further at this time."
It also confirmed Rozman was contacted by, and spoke to, the ITA back in April, explaining: "David immediately notified the team of his meeting with the ITA and his recollection of the contents of the meeting. Although the ITA assured David at the time that he was not under investigation, Ineos promptly commissioned a thorough review by an external law firm.
"The team has acted responsibly and with due process, taking the allegations seriously whilst acknowledging that David is a long-standing, dedicated member of the team. The team continues to assess the circumstances and any relevant developments, and has formally requested any relevant information from the ITA."
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The controversy around Rozman arises from a doping documentary broadcast by Germany’s TV channel ARD last month. Some of the content of the programme was based on the trial of Mark Schmidt, the German doctor at the centre of the German-Austrian doping investigation, Operation Aderlass.
Schmidt, who is based in Germany, previously worked as a doctor with the Gerolsteiner and Milram pro cycling teams. Operation Aderlass investigators examined his role in helping athletes from cycling and crosscountry skiing to blood dope.
Schmidt, then aged 42 years, was jailed for five years in 2021 for his role in blood doping the athletes, from 2012 to 2019. The Munich court that convicted him also banned him from practicing as a doctor for three further years and fined him €158,000.
The German TV documentary last month set out how a member of personnel with Sky/Ineos was in touch with Schmidt in 2012, while working for Team Sky. It reported on the contacts between the doping doctor and the Sky/Ineos worker because those contacts emerged in evidence at the Schmidt trial in 2020-21.
One message from the person working for Sky/Ineos to Schmidt said: “Do you still have any of the stuff that Milram used during the races? If so, can you bring it for the boys?”
Though the messages have effectively been a matter of public record since they were aired in court almost five years ago, they were not reported on until the ARD documentary went out last month. The documentary did not name Rozman as the Sky/Ineos staff member, due to legal restrictions.
However, both The Sunday Times and Sunday Independent have since published reports naming Rozman and explaining the contents of the ARD documentary. And once he was named, the story gathered pace, especially at the Tour de France where Rozman was working for Ineos Grenadiers.
Though the team declined to comment initially, it has in the last week released two statements. The second of those statements today, Thursday, confirmed Rozman is due to be interviewed by the ITA and has left the Tour as a result.
