Ineos carer linked to doping doctor worked at Man United last year

Times

5 days ago

David Rozman, the Ineos Grenadiers staff member sent home from the Tour de France last week after becoming the subject of an anti-doping investigation, spent a month last year working at Manchester United.
Rozman was the unnamed carer at Ineos who was alleged by the German broadcaster ARD to have exchanged messages with a German doctor convicted in a Munich court in 2020 for doping offences. Mark Schmidt was identified as the mastermind of a blood-doping ring in cycling and cross-country skiing and received a sentence of almost five years in prison.
Ineos announced last week that Rozman, the team's long-serving head carer, had left the Tour after being notified that the International Testing Agency (ITA), which oversees cycling's anti-doping programme, had launched a new investigation.
It has now emerged that Rozman, a Slovenian soigneur whose duties as a carer for riders extend to massage treatment, actually spent four weeks last year working alongside United's soft tissue therapists.
United have declined to comment, but it is understood this was part of a knowledge exchange that has developed since Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the owner of the Ineos Grenadiers cycling team, became a co-owner at United in February last year.
Overseeing such collaboration is Sir Dave Brailsford, the head of Ineos Sport and, until his recent return to the cycling team, a prominent figure in Ratcliffe's operation on the performance side at Old Trafford. Indeed, United benefited for a spell last season from one of the 'marginal gains' Brailsford introduced at what was formerly Team Sky.
He decided each rider should have a dedicated washing machine, fitted in the belly of the team bus, to reduce the risk of infection during a major stage race. When United were having the launderette at their training ground refurbished, the football kit staff instead used the eight washing machines of the Ineos cycling team bus that was parked for that period at Carrington.
Rozman's stint pre-dated United's knowledge of any possible link to Schmidt and the court case in Munich.
In a statement last Thursday, Ineos Grenadiers said Rozman had initially spoken 'informally' to the ITA in April. At that point he was told that he was not under investigation. However, the situation then changed, with Ineos revealing they had also enlisted the services of an external law firm to conduct their own review.
'Following recent media allegations, David Rozman has now received a request from the ITA to attend an interview,' Ineos said. 'Accordingly, he has stepped back from race duties and has left the Tour.
'David Rozman was informally contacted in April 2025 by a member of ITA staff, who asked him about alleged historical communications. 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 while 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.
'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 co-operate with the ITA and any other authority. The team reiterates its zero-tolerance policy and is unable to comment further at this time.'
It was on June 21 that ARD screened its documentary about Schmidt and the alleged connection to an Ineos staff member.
Schmidt was the central focus of Operation Aderlass, an investigation in Austria and Germany into allegations of doping practices in sport. Based in Erfurt, in central Germany, Schmidt had worked for a pro team called Milram that, prior to its disbandment in 2010, had been rocked by doping scandals.
The Irish Independent published some of the messages referred to in court that were detailed in the notes taken by the ARD reporter.
It has been suggested that in one message, Rozman, who joined what was then Team Sky in 2011 and acted as a carer for both Sir Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome at the Tour as well as the 2012 London Olympics, appears to be providing Schmidt with contact details for someone the German authorities suspected of being a Slovenia-based drug dealer.
In another, sent a month before the 2012 Tour, which was won by Wiggins, Rozman asked Schmidt: 'Do you still have any of the stuff that Milram used during the races? If so, can you bring it for the boys?'
There was also evidence, again detailed in messages, that Rozman arranged for Schmidt to meet him at the Team Sky hotel during the Tour.