Cycling news - Austrian Georg Preidler admits to doping amid investigation

Preidler, who rides for French elite team Groupama-FDJ, told the Kronen newspaper that he could not 'live with this secret any longer' after skiers from Austria, Kazakhstan and Estonia were arrested last Wednesday in anti-doping raids in the Austrian resort of Seefeld.

The FDJ-Groupama team told Reuters they would issue a statement later on Monday.

Preidler had now left Groupama-FDJ, the French outfit said in a statement on Monday, adding that the rider, who joined in 2018, had admitted having 'blood taken' that year.

A 40-year-old sports doctor was believed to be at the centre of the organisation, police said last week.

"I made a doping confession (to the police)," the 28-year-old Preidler, a triple time-trial national champion, said.

Preidler, however, said that some of his best results, such as a third-place finish in a Giro d'Italia mountain stage in 2016, had been achieved clean.