Bernard Sainz

On 11 April 2008, the high court in Paris condemned Sainz to three years in prison, the first half without release and the second on probationary freedom. He was accused of administering doping products to athletes and practising medicine without a licence. He produced no evidence of medical training at his trial.

On release from jail in Belgium, Sainz was re-arrested in France for breaking conditions imposed on him in 1999 to keep him away from the sport. Ten used syringes were found in Sainz's office and he was accused of possessing and administering testosterone and corticoids. Sainz said the testosterone was to increase his sexual performance and the corticoids for treating horses. The case was dropped.

He paid Sainz 7,000 French francs for the homeopathic drops and 50,000 in fees in the first half of 1999. Sainz said:

Bernard Sainz came to notice at horse racing tracks. In 1988 one of his three-year-olds, Soft Machine, caused a surprise by winning a big race three days after losing an unimportant one for which he had been favourite. The suspicion was that Sainz had doped the horse to run faster, but nothing was found. Sainz said:

In 1986 he was cleared in an investigation into the trading of amphetamine at the Paris six-day race. He was questioned about illegal practice of medicine and held for two months in 1999. In 2002 police stopped him for speeding and driving without insurance on the E17 autoroute in Belgium and found homeopathic medicines in his car. He told police he had been to see the Belgian cyclist, Frank Vandenbroucke. They went to see Vandenbroucke and found EPO, morphine and clenbuterol. Vandenbroucke claimed they were for his dog.

Sainz's standing in cycling has frequently awarded him the title "doctor". The sports daily, L'Équipe spoke of how "Dr Bernard Sainz looked after the health of Louis Caput's team." Three days later it repeated the title in writing of Cyrille Guimard. In 1975 Nord Éclair referred to Sainz as having "had several years of medicine and looks after the medical cares of riders." As Dr Jean-Pierre de Mondenard pointed out: "In fact, the good Bernard did zero years of medicine." In the same year, L'Équipe wrote "Dr Sainz of the GAN team will probably join Gitane." Joop Zoetemelk refers to Sainz as "doctor" in a biography and so does Erwann Menthéour, another former rider.

Bernard Sainz returned to cycling in 1972, joining the Mercier team when Louis Caput replaced Antonin Magne as manager. Caput approached Edmond Mercier, the bicycle-maker behind Poulidor's team, and asked to bring Sainz into the team management. Mercier agreed, said Sainz, because he was already treating Mercier for his own health problems. Mercier had also brought in the insurance company, GAN, as main sponsor. GAN, said Sainz, wanted Raymond Poulidor, who had said the previous year that he would not race any more. Sainz said:

Bernard Sainz began cycle-racing in 1958 when he was 15, riding a race on rollers. He won a bicycle as fastest rider. He joined the UC Créteil a club in the suburbs of Paris. One of his first training companions was Pierre Trentin, a future sprint champion. In 1964 he came third in the French students' championship in his home town. The winner was Jean-Marie Leblanc, who became a professional and then organiser of the Tour de France. He stopped racing after crashing in a motor-paced race on the velodrome at Grenoble

Sainz first consulted a homeopathic doctor in 1956 after persistent sinusitis. Sainz said: .mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}

Bernard Sainz, a.k.a. Dr Mabuse, (born Rennes, France, 1 September 1943) is an unlicensed sports doctor who achieved great success in horse racing and cycling. He was jailed for falsely practising medicine, particularly in cycle racing, and received other sentences for doping-related charges, which he consistently denied.