In a newly released recording of a 1995 interview with the current Quick.Step team doctor, Yvan Van Mol, he admits that cyclists used growth hormones, but he denies administering the banned drugs to cyclists while part of the then Mapei squad medical staff.
The recording of the interview by Yvan Sonck was made public on the Belgian VRT television talk show 'De zevende dag' on Monday, January 30, by Van Mol himself, "because I knew that if I didn't Het Laatste Nieuws would have", said Van Mol. "The newspaper wouldn't have published the whole interview, making things difficult for me."
Van Mol defended himself, saying, "I've never worked with growth hormones. I did my duty. I got rid of people that I suspected of having done so."
Interview transcript (translated by VRT news)
Sonck: "Have you ever prescribed banned substances such as growth hormones or EPO?"
Van Mol: "Eh... there was a time that growth hormones were used."
Sonck: "Did you supply them?"
Van Mol: "Is this an interrogation?"
Sonck: "No, certainly not. I'm not entitled to interrogate people, but I'm simply doing my job as a journalist."
Van Mol: "I've known about its use in the past and know that it still is being used. I think that the effects of growth hormones have never been proven and that they can't be measured or seen."
Sonck: "What are you giving the riders at the moment? EPO?"
Van Mol: "Mr Sonck, I don't need to justify my actions to others."
Sonck: "No, but..."
Van Mol: "I don't mind talking to you, but you can't expect me to tell other people what's happened. Or do you?"
Van Mol: "Would you like me to get other people in to big trouble?"
Sonck: "Eh... if you're not doing anything illegal, you won't have a problem."
Van Mol: "I'm not doing anything that is not allowed, it's as simple as that."
Sonck: "But you have given riders growth hormones in the past?"
Van Mol: "I didn't say that. I said that I knew that they were being used."
Sonck: "Have you never administered them?"
Van Mol: "No, I haven't."
