Bernard Sainz, the doping doctor known as Dr Mabuse, has been sentenced to three months in prison and a fine of 7,500 euro by the Tribunal correctionnel d'Alençon. The charges relate to the doping of racehorses dating back to 2005, but the Frenchman has also been accused in the past of providing banned substances to cyclists. One of his most famous client was the late Frank Vandenbroucke, who had a long association with the doctor.
In 2002 Sainz was stopped by police in Belgium for speeding and having no insurance. His car was searched, homeopathic substances were found, and he told police that he had been visiting Vandenbroucke. The latter’s home was searched and there police discovered EPO, morphine and clenbuterol. The rider claimed at the time that they were for his dog.
Vandenbroucke later said that Sainz had given him drops and injections over a long period of time, saying that he had trusted him. “I may be considered naïve but I am not a dishonest person,” he said. Vandenbroucke had a long history of using doping products and recreational drugs and sadly died in October 2009.
Sainz had a long history in cycling, having worked in some capacity with many big riders including Bernard Hinault, Raymond Poulidor, Cyril Guimard, Vandenbroucke and others.
On 11 April 2008, he was found guilty of administering doping products to athletes and practising medicine without a licence. He was sentenced to three years in prison, with the second half of that sentence suspended. He appealed this, was sentenced to a reduced year’s jail term in 2010, but succeeded in having this dismissed and bounced back to the Court of Appeal.
In the meantime, the 2005 horse racing charges came to trial and he has now been found guilty of that. According to France3, he and four others sentenced yesterday for ‘offences on poisons, on drugs, fraud and attempted fraud,’ plan to appeal.