Professional cycling’s Team Sky have issued a statement in support of team Director Servais Knaven, after allegations resurfaced that he had doped whilst a professional rider with Dutch team TVM in 1998. ‘We have taken these allegations very seriously’, read the statement. ‘In the limited time we have had we have done everything possible to investigate them. We have interviewed Servais at length. More importantly, we handed over the information presented to us to three independent world class anti-doping experts for their analysis and expert opinion. Their view on the basis of what has been presented to us is that there is no proof of doping and Servais continues to maintain his innocence. We would be happy to share these findings with any other anti-doping agency.’

The allegations relate to a 2001 trial brought forward by the public prosecutor in Reims against three TVM directors, after French police found 104 vials of erythropoietin (EPO) in a TVM car on the way back from the Vuelta a Murcia race in Spain. The Mail on Sunday recently gained access to the court documents, and reported that they revealed that Knaven had tested positive for EPO. It also reported that the documents revealed that Knaven had taken a number of other substances, including cortisone.

Knaven has always denied using performance enhancing drugs. “With regard to use of persantin and naftidrofuryl, neither of them were illegal or on the list of banned substances”, he told the newspaper. “I used them on very rare occasions to get rid of cramps during long stage races”.