"I can only say, that I used EPO myself and that what Bert Dietz said is pretty much the truth," said Christian Henn, former Team Telekom rider and current Gerolsteiner Sport Director.
Henn confessed yesterday to having used EPO, a day after his former teammate Dietz publicly confessed to having used the doping product while at Team Telekom.
In an interview with the Frankfurter Rundschau, Henn said that he used EPO "from 1995 until the end of my career." He retired in 1999 after testing positive for testosterone.
He refused to say how he came to take EPO, or name other riders who used it. "Each individual should say what is what. And I hope that will happen."
When asked if team manager Walter Godefroot gathered money from the riders for doping products, he merely answered, "Oh, nonsense." He also indicated that former soigneur Jef d'Hondt was "the key figure" in the scheme.
After retiring in disgrace, Henn said, he had pretty much given up on cycling. "At least then it was totally clear to me: If I do get another chance in cycling, then clearly without doping."
And what will he now say to his Gerolsteiner riders? "I will say, that's how it was at the time. Do it or else. But this system doesn't exist any more. Maybe it sounds silly, but I believe, despite Operación Puerto, that cycling is pretty clean now."
He is aware that sponsor Gerolsteiner could now kick him out because of his confession. "That's possible." And what would he then do? "No idea."
