Former Swiss professional athlete Pirmin Lang revealed in a post on Twitter that he was part of the Adelrath doping network after an investigation by the Swiss newspaper Neue Zurcher Zeitung.

Lang, 35, who was a member of IAM Cycling from 2013 to 2016, became the seventh professional road athlete implicated in the scandal.

Lang, who co-founded the Continental team Swiss Racing Academy in 2019, did not give details of when, where, or how he doped and did not expand on the extent of his involvement with the network. According to the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, they approached Lang on Friday morning with a series of questions, and only then did he decide to confess.

The Swiss Racing Academy announced Lang's immediate departure on Friday evening.

"My name is Pirmin Lang, I am 35 years old. And today I am resigning from professional cycling. A few years ago I started an organization to develop young cycling talent in my country."

"I wanted a team because I wanted to protect them. I want to protect them from the misdeeds I have witnessed and experienced during my professional career.

"To protect them from the mistakes I made. Mistakes that can no longer be kept a personal secret. ...... Mistakes I will reveal today. I have been dishonest throughout my professional career as a cyclist.

"I was part of the "Aderlass" network. I lied and am responsible for my actions. I regret it."

Lang raced for the Swiss Continental team Atlas from 2009 to 2012 before moving to IAM Cycling in 2013 and remaining with the team when it moved to the World Tour for the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

Highlights of his eight-year professional career include a stage win at the 2012 Rás in Ireland, second place at the 2016 Swiss National Championships road race, and an appearance in the 2013 Vuelta a España.

Since 2019, Lang has been manager and director sportif of the Swiss Racing Academy, working with talents like Stefan Bissegger, who won silver in last year's Yorkshire World Championships U23 road race.

"SRA announces the immediate departure of Pirmin Lang, Head of Sport," said a statement from the Swiss Racing Academy. Lang tendered his resignation after being interviewed by police investigating past doping offenses in professional cycling."

"He has confessed to cheating during his career as a professional cyclist and engaging in activities that are at odds with everything the SRA team stands for.

"We are appalled to learn that Mr. Lang engaged in such conduct during his working career, and stress that there is no suggestion that any illegal activity took place in the SRA.

Operation Adelas first came to public attention when Austrian police raided the Nordic Ski World Championships in February 2019. Later that month, a raid on a clinic in Erfurt, Germany, led to the arrest of former Gerolsteiner doctor Mark Schmidt.

Soon after, the dominoes of pro cycling began to fall, with Stefan Denifle confessing to blood doping. Georg Preidler (Groupama-FDJ) was next, admitting to having taken blood on two separate occasions in 2018.

In May 2019, former professional Danilo Hondo confessed to blood doping in 2012 and 2013 and was subsequently fired from his position as an elite national coach for the Swiss Cycling Federation.

Soon after, Alessandro Petacchi was named as a client, followed by Borut Bozic and then active professionals Kristijan Koren (Bahrain Merida) and Christian Dulasek (UAE Team Emirates), all fired by their teams

The team's current team leader was also fired.

Preidler, Deniful, and Dulasek received four-year suspensions, while Petacki, Bozich, and Koren received two-year suspensions. Hondo has not yet been suspended. News of the investigation was silent until Lang's confession on Friday.