Michael Boogerd would always target the race(Image credit: Sirotti)
The last Dutch winner: Erik Dekker in 2001(Image credit: Sirotti)
Dutch champion Leon Van Bon wins at Tours during the 2000 Tour de France.(Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Huge crowds at the start in Tavistock as Koen de Kort signs on.(Image credit: Robert Lampard)
Dutch riders who competed in the nineties have insisted they did not dope after being quizzed directly by AD Sportwereld.
Faced by the blunt question: “Did you use drugs?"; all the Dutch riders who were professionals between 1998 and 2005 and responded, said no. Although many gave interesting answers and indicated that they were suspicious of others using doping products.
This is a selection of the answers:
Leon van Bon (40,1994-present) "No. But who believes me? Good answers to this question do not exist.”
Michael Boogerd (40, 1994-2007) "That's really a ridiculous question. I really have said a hundred times that I have used no drugs.”
Johan Bruinsma (36, 1998-2000) "No. But I have learned about things, out of curiosity. I was ending my career, was just not going forward. I was shocked at how easy it was. ..... Guys who now say they knew nothing, I don't believe a word of it. Doping was everywhere. Sometimes I lay at night in the hotel awakened by the commotion in the hallway, so you knew that a few got treatment and that they had to move, otherwise their blood was too thick. That a guy like Steven de Jongh now says that everyone deserves a second chance, well I don't know. Fuck off with your second chance. He drives a nice big car while I'm too old to climb on the bike. "
Erik Dekker (42, 1992-2006) "This is a useless and unfair question. Because the honest answer of no will not be believed. People only want to hear confessions now.”
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Bas Giling (30, 2002-2009) "No, I never had that shit in my body. As a cyclist you have to face it at some point in terms of what is possible. I never actively got involved, but of course you heard things. At T-Mobile I ended up in a world where almost everything was wrong."
Alain van Katwijk (33, 2002-2007) "No. And I regret it afterwards. If you now hear everything that was in circulation, then you'll think: Gosh, there must have been something in that peanut butter sandwich.”
Koen de Kort (30, 2002-present) "No. I used to ride for bad teams, where it was ultimately proved that doping was used (Liberty Seguros, Astana, ed.) It was never offered to me, but when I think about it afterwards, I knew that something was going on. As a cyclist you usually share a hotel room with a teammate, at Liberty Seguros, it was often Jörg Jaksche. The doctor would came to his room and he was suddenly gone for five minutes. Then the doctor would ask me: do you need something? No, I said. I thought maybe they were just talking. But now I know better.”
Adrie van der Poel (53, 1981-2000) "I'm not going to take this nonsense. Journalism has cause more than enough damage to the sport, by digging into the past. I never read any positive stories about the present. Good afternoon.”
Bram Schmitz (35, 1999-2011) "I can easily answer that question: no. The step was too large, the penalties too. Top cyclists could have risked that, not me.”
Dutch riders who have been caught or confessed to doping include: Thomas Dekker, Steven de Jongh, Jans Koerts and Mar Lotz. Despite multiple attempts, AD Sportwereld was unable to reach Jeroen Blijlevens and Miquel van Kessel.
