"Oh come, of course they knew it"
Opposite the NIS, a former Rabobank rider who wishes to remain anonymous, made a statement on doping within the team. He says that was widely used. With the knowledge of the team management. Below are full statement.
The turning point for the Rabobank team came according to the source in the years before the turn of the century. "1999 was a dramatic Tour de France for Rabobank. Following that Tour riders have mutually agreed that it could not and that something had to change."
The choice was for the riders simple: join or quit. "Mutually they agreed that they would participate in the game. The vote was along the lines of:" We will not piepelen ". They went to the EPO." And that happened under the former rider with the knowledge of the doctor Geert Leinders: "The team doctor was aware. That is Geert Leinders."
Doping threw soon bear fruit. "A year later, Erik Dekker won three Tour stages. Rarara, why? You're not mad ..."
The source indicates how easy it was to begin with doping. "At one point I went to the team doctor and asked," Can I have epo? " Yeah, that was good, the doctor said. He gave me a bag with six syringes in it, such cooling pouch. I kept it at home in the fridge. "
"When I had finished my course, I threw everything away. At three syringes I had enough. The rest I just threw away, hup, somewhere in a container."
"Of course they knew it"
There can be no doubt that the leadership of the Rabobank team was aware of doping, he says: "Leinders belonged to the team management, so it seems clear to me. And Leinders will certainly during a drink or a cozy moment with its other directors ever told what he was doing. Oh come, of course they knew. "
"Do not forget that De Rooij, Breukink, Maassen, you name it, themselves professional cyclist been. They know all the ins and outs of this world. That obviously knew what was going on. You do not even really asking to know and to see what was going on. "
Testing escape was then still simple: "Sometimes I had three weeks no matches. Often I went the first week with my girlfriend a week away, abroad. During that time, you did not have such strict controls, not where-abouts . and unannounced inspections abroad were certainly not. "
Junkie
"I injected myself, like all the other guys. Course I have ever had a vitamin injection or iron injection. You pay attention to what the doctor is doing and you do it after. Alas, Leinders will also give us a bit instruction has been given, but I do not remember so well. well how I looked older, experienced riders did and then I did it just after. "
"In the beginning you just injected just under the skin. Not so hard. Later, when an EPO test, it was difficult. Then you had to inject directly into the vein. Yeah, I did. Then I found the most normal thing in the world. When I think back now, I feel almost a junkie. "
"Leinders knew all the tricks"
The anonymous cyclist think most Dutch top riders epo names: "I think more than ninety percent. Alas, I'm sure. Only that kind of eccentric characters like Thorwald Veneberg not. That was really the alternative ideas and very on nature oriented. But all the rest. All top riders have taken. "
Doping was normal within the Rabobank team: "During the training we also talked about just. How to use it, which is good stuff, you had to be careful with it."
Even at matches was the subject avoided: "After Amstel Gold Race was a rider totally broken. Back in the bus gave the team doctor - Leinders, yes - a pill. He said take it tonight, not now, because if you get tested , youre screwed. "
"But that rider did not listen well and take that pill in his throat and swallow it. Turned out he was gonna get tested. Great stress. Leinders furious. Leinders gave him soon another drink and another pill. Blood Nervously he pee. Pale fortunately nothing wrong. Leinders What has given him? I do not know, but he has certainly saved him. Leinders knows all the tricks. Such a pill we got often. then recovered better, said Leinders . "
Centrifuge
The former rider gives other examples of the extensive doping in cycling. "In my second or third year I was once on the hotel room with an older, experienced rider. I see that he is a drip on the wall has been confirmed and the needle to himself brings. Whether it was blood or salt solution, I do not know that I could not see. Anyway, it says something about the mentality. "
"I was in a team with a superstar, he had a small machine that makes your hematocrit was measured. Did we just with him in the hotel room. *** the finger, few drops of blood in a tube, tube in the machine, three minutes centrifugation and you knew what the content was. Were you under fifty, there was nothing wrong, cheering in the hotel room. And you can not think our team was an exception, as it is in most teams to it. "
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