The head carer who was asked by Ineos Grenadiers to leave during the Tour de France after allegations of contact with a doctor convicted for doping, is understood to be remaining with the team.
David Rozman is described by the team as “one of the longest-serving members of our staff [who] takes on the important role of Head Carer”, also known as a soigneur. In the run-up to the Tour de France, German broadcaster ARD aired a documentary detailing the Slovenian’s exchanges with Mark Schmidt, a disgraced German doctor.
In 2021, Schmidt was sentenced to four years and ten months in prison for running a doping ring that reportedly involved a form of powered haemoglobin, leading to 11 cyclists and nine cross-country skiers receiving bans. The police investigation around Schmidt was known as Operation Aderlass.
Though the documentary did not name Rozman, the Irish Independent subsequently published text messages purporting to show Rozman in 2012 asking after “any of the stuff that Milram used during the races”. Schmidt was formerly employed as a doctor at the team.
Ineos subsequently announced that they had forwarded the allegations to the International Testing Agency (ITA) for investigation, and Rozman has worked remotely since then.
2017 Team Sky Tour de France podium (credit: Simon Wilkinson/SWpix.com)
But whilst there has been no news on a conclusion of that investigation, Escape Collective have reported that Rozman’s job is secure.
At the time of Rozman’s departure from the Tour de France, Ineos Grenadiers released a statement saying their head carer had “received a request from the ITA to attend an interview” having been “informally contacted in April 2025 by a member of ITA staff, who asked him about alleged historical communications.
“David immediately notified the team of his meeting with the ITA and his recollection of the contents of the meeting. Although the ITA assured David at the time that he was not under investigation, Ineos promptly commissioned a thorough review by an external law firm.”
The status of that external review is also unknown. When contacted by Escape Collective, Ineos pointed back to their original statement in which they also said they are “taking the allegations seriously whilst acknowledging that David is a long-standing, dedicated member of the team.” They also pledged to co-operate with the investigation, deny any wrongdoing and re-iterated their “zero-tolerance policy”.
Prior to becoming Head Carer, Rozman had worked as a soigneur to Chris Froome and Richie Porte when the team was known as Team Sky. His relationship with Froome was close enough that he was reported by the journalist David Walsh to have named his son after the four-time Tour de France winner.
Chris Froome David Rozman tweets (credit: Chris Froome)
When asked about his relationship with Rozman at the Tour de Pologne earlier in the year, Froome said he had not spoken to Rozman since the story first broke, and also denied deleting posts on social media with the Slovenian. The tweet screenshotted above was removed from Froome’s X/Twitter account after the allegations first emerged.