Two years in prison required against Bernard Sainz, nicknamed the “Doctor Mabuse” of cycling

Two years in prison and a 30,000 euros fine were required Monday against the "

" Bernard Sainz, alias "

" of cycling, tried before the Paris Criminal Court for illegal practice of medicine and pharmacy and incitement to doping.

Stressing that Mr. Sainz was "no

" because of his previous convictions, the prosecutor also wished that the defendant, aged 78, be struck by a "

" in the field of health and sports.

Against the former cyclist Loïc Herbreteau, 45, suspected of having put sportsmen in touch with Mr. Sainz, the prosecutor requested a nine-month suspended prison sentence, accompanied by a fine of 5,000 euros, for “

”.

The public prosecutor asked for a six-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 8,000 euros against the former actor Pierre-Marie Carlier, 56, tried for putting his son Alexis, a semi-professional cyclist, in contact with Bernard Sainz "

”.

A reputation as a guru

Former amateur rider, present in the world of cycling since he joined the Gan Mercier team as deputy sports director, Bernard Sainz has long maintained the reputation of a guru constantly flirting with limits but taking advantage of his good relations in the pack.

On his site, he highlights the care he lavished on great names in cycling from the 1960s and 1970s such as Poulidor, Guimard or even Bernard Thévenet, double winner of the Tour de France (1975, 1977).

Later, he had also rubbed shoulders with the French Philippe Gaumont, convicted of doping and died at 40 after a heart attack, or Frank Vandenbroucke, the enfant terrible of Belgian cycling, who died at 34 after a career marked by doping cases. and drugs.

Already in legal trouble

Mr. Sainz is not at his first legal troubles.

After several trials, he was sentenced in 2014 on appeal in Paris to two years in prison including twenty months suspended, in particular for incitement to doping and illegal practice of medicine, in a case that had splashed the cycling community in the 1990s. In February 2019, the Caen Court of Appeal imposed a 12-month suspended prison sentence and 2,000 euros fine in another case in the semi-pro and amateur cycling world.