Cycling-Ineos-Grenadiers says soigneur has left Tour amid 2012 doping questioning
"Following recent media allegations, David (Rozman) has now received a request from the ITA to attend an interview. Accordingly, he has stepped back from race duties and has left the Tour," Ineos Grenadiers said, adding the team had not been presented with formal evidence or asked to participate in any inquiry.
The ITA declined to comment and Rozman did not answer phone calls.
Rozman was reported by the Irish Independent earlier this month to have exchanged messages in 2012 with a doctor linked to the Operation Aderlass doping scandal that shook the sporting world in 2019. German broadcaster ARD also last month reported exchanges involving Ineos, but did not name Rozman.
Operation Aderlass involved a German physician Mark Schmidt, who had been giving illegal blood transfusions to athletes from various disciplines including cycling.
Schmidt was later convicted and sentenced in 2021 to four years and 10 months in prison for administering illegal blood transfusions.
The 2012 Tour de France was won by Britain's Bradley Wiggins with the team, then known as Team Sky. His former teammate Chris Froome went on to win another four Tour titles for the team.
Soigneurs typically look after the cyclists, provide massages and carry out a host of other jobs for the team.
Ineos said in its statement that it had commissioned an inquiry by an external law firm after Rozman informed the team of a first meeting with the ITA earlier this year.
"Team member David Rozman was informally contacted in April 2025 by a member of ITA staff, who asked him about alleged historical communications," it said.
"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," it said, without elaborating.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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