By Susan Westemeyer
The roller coaster that has made up Danilo Hondo's life and career the last year has taken another unexpected curve: he can race again. The latest twist is not an absolute victory in his legal battle against the two-year ban that he was handed after testing positive for Carphedon at the Vuelta a Murcia in 2005, but it's enough to get him back into competition.
"Our appeal at the Swiss Bundesgerichtshof was accepted and the previous court decision was set aside," Hondo wrote on his website, www.danilo-hondo.de. The ban on his racing has been lifted pending further process. "The UCI and the WADA will have the opportunity to submit written positions. Only after these have been received will it be decided how to proceed.
"It is only a small partial victory, like winning a stage in a race, where the overall victory isn't decided until later," he said.
"Once more this shows that it is worth it to never give up, and not to lose the ambition for long and hard training," Hondo said. "This evening I will try to get all the details cleared up so that I can start as early as Wednesday evening at the Michelstädter Abendkriterium!"
