Danilo Hondo, the former pro cyclist, has told a court hearing he paid €25,000 for a course of blood doping for just one season.
Now aged 46 years and having
retired from racing since 2014, the German has been giving evidence at a court
case linked to Operation Aderlass, the inquiry into blood doping linked to
cycling, skiing and some other sports.
The blood doping probe is based in Austria and Germany and its investigators found blood bags during raids early last year.
It is examining the activities of Dr Mark Schmidt, who is
based in Germany and previously worked as a doctor with the Gerolsteiner and
Milram pro cycling teams.
Hondo told a court hearing in Munich that he and Alessandro
Petacchi used Schmidt for blood doping for the 2012 season when both riders
competed in the colours of Lampre-ISD.
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Hondo said when the riders began on Schmidt’s programme they had to pick code names and that he picked 'James Bond'.
“Yes, you had to come up with a cover name. And if you had just checked out all the James Bond films at the time, then yes, I'll take James Bond,” he said according to his testimony reported in Deutschlandfunk.
He added Schmidt was to
cater for his blood doping needs for the 2012 campaign, saying in his statement
he paid €25,000.
“We spoke of three to four withdrawals, and
corresponding three to four returns. I stand by that too,” he said.
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“The doctor just comes in
and then it starts. I mean, when you've been doing sports for so long, you've
got such regenerative infusions or for pain. That's how you have to imagine it.
“Of course, you have a bad
feeling because you don't want to be caught and you hope it's finally over. It
is already clear. But you are together in this situation. And you don't see it
as dramatic now.”
He added he was not afraid of being caught in doping tests – even though the biological passport had been introduced four years earlier – and claimed he and Petacchi had even had a transfusion in the same hotel room.
"If you have such a close relationship that was almost brotherly, then you have no problem being doped together in one room," Hondo said.
He added he had blood
withdrawn in winter 2011 and then during the 2012 season had transfusions for
important races such as Milan-Sanremo and the Tour de France.
When Hondo’s name emerged last year as part of the Operation Aderlass inquiry he gave an interview incriminating himself in the doping. He had previously been banned after a positive for carphendon in 2005 but returned to racing for a prolonged period after that ban.
When he gave his interview last year Hondo was working as a national coach with the Swiss federation but was dismissed. It said it had decided to give him a second chance - after the 2005 case - but was disturbed by his statements regarding the later part of his career.
Hondo has said he deeply regrets what he did, saying it did him more harm than good and that he no longer celebrates the successes he had as a rider, which included two Giro stages.
Later in his career he was a lead-out man for Alessandro Petacchi, who has denied doping but was banned for two years last year arising for the Aderlass inquiry and relating to doping violations in 2012 and 2013.
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