 Zabel met with team managers and directors in a crisis meeting |
Erik Zabel will continue to ride for Team Milram until 2008 despite his admission he took banned blood-booster EPO (erythropoietin) in 1996. The German confessed last Thursday that he took the banned substance while competing for team Telekom.
But Milram have decided to honour his contract following a crisis meeting.
"The decision wasn't easy. We take the ProTour Teams' code very seriously, but Zabel's offence dates back 11 years," said team manager Gianluigi Stanga.
Zabel must now wait and see whether the German Cycling Federation (BDR) will allow him to race in September's UCI Road World Championships in Stuttgart.
The BDR has said even cyclists who are only suspected of doping, let alone those who have confessed to it, cannot be chosen for major championships.
Zabel is a two-time world championship silver medallist and a six-time winner of the Tour de France's green jersey for the points classification.
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