The Freiburg justice department will investigate charges that two lead doctors from the T-Mobile cycling team gave cyclists performance-enhancing drugs, according to Thursday's edition of Suddeutsche Zeitung.

Wolfgang Meier, the Bavarian prosecutor general, said his department was taking very seriously accusations made by a former masseur of the team, Jef d'Hont.

D'Hont claimed the two doctors, Andreas Schmid and Lothar Heinrich, supplied the team with EPO during the 1996 Tour de France, which was won by then-team member Bjarne Riis.

"The information available to us has encouraged us to pursue the investigations," said Maier.

Maier's decision comes after a recognized expert in the battle against doping, Werner Franke, brought a complaint against them for “breaking the law on medicines.”

Franke made his move after the allegations made by d'Hont, who worked for T-Mobile's predecessor Telekom from 1992 to 1996.

D'Hont claimed that both Heinrich and Schmid organized masking agents for EPO and injected team members with EPO during the 1996 Tour de France, which aside from Riis's triumph also announced the arrival of German star Jan Ullrich, who worked selflessly for his Danish teammate.

Heinrich and Schmid are still the heads of the medical department of T-Mobile, the management of which restructured the team following the scandal enveloping Ullrich, who has been linked to Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes.

D'Hont apparently faces little legal redress from the two doctors according to Suddeutsche Zeitung, which quoted Hans-Hermann Dickhuth, director of the sports medicine department at Freiburg's university hospital, where the two doctors are resident.

"Doctor Schmid gave me the impression that these revelations could be a problem," said Dickhuth.

On Tuesday, T-Mobile management announced that the team would investigate the allegations against its doctors.

"We are going to ask the two doctors questions and to discuss with them to know what is true in what Mr. d'Hont has alleged. We are going to look into the matter and then make a decision," said Christian Frommert, a T-Mobile spokesman.

"We are also going to try to speak with Mr d'Hont," he added.

T-Mobile was restructured at the end of last season after the height of the scandal, and began this season promising to spearhead the fight against doping in the sport.