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French legend Jeannie Longo’s husband faces criminal trial over EPO purchases

Investigating magistrates conclude that Patrice Ciprelli bought banned drug online

Jeannie Longo’s husband faces criminal trial over EPO purchases

Investigating magistrates conclude that Patrice Ciprelli bought banned drug online

Patrcie Ciprelli, the husband of former world and Olympic champion Jeannie Longo, faces a criminal trial in France for illegally buying and importing EPO following an investigation lasting five years.

Two magistrates in Grenoble who have been investigating the case have referred it to a criminal court after concluding that the 61-year-old  made a number of online purchases of the banned substance, reports Le Dauphiné Libéré.

http://www.ledauphine.com/sport/2016/05/21/le-mari-de-jeannie-longo-renv...

The magistrates, Michel Mollin and Nicolas Josué, said: “The investigation shows that Mr Ciprelli took a number of precautions when buying these products and tried to conceal the fact, and that even today he persists in denying it through explanations that are not credible and are certainly pure fantasy despite overwhelming evidence.”

They referred Ciprelli to a criminal court for his “involvement in the fraudulent importing of banned prohibited goods, namely doping products (EPO)” from the period 14 September 2008 and 14 September 2011, the latter date being when their probe began.

The magistrates said that they had identified eight orders made by Ciprelli for EPO during that time through an American website, paid for by credit cards in his name or that of his wife and delivered to a friend or to his mother. The total amount of the orders was $9,363.

They said they had been unable to establish whether athletes trained by Ciprelli, including his wife – winner of 59 French national titles, 13 world championships and one Olympic gold medal – had doped.

While adding that there were “suspicions of doping” against the 57-year-old due to “her exceptional sporting performances and the particular longevity” of her career, they emphasised that their investigations had not established “irrefutable proof of doping.”

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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1961BikiE | 8 years ago
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Sadly I was always suspicious of Ms. Longo mainly due to how high she was able to perform for so long.

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