Nicki Sorensen admits to doping in his early career
Danish cyclist Nicki Sorensen, who retired last year, admitted today to having doped in the early years of his career, a day before the Danish Anti-Doping Agency (ADD) releases an eagerly awaited report compiled over two years. "I doped, I have fully admitted it. I regret it, I wish I could change that decision," said Sorensen to the digital edition of the newspaper BT.
Controversy surrounding Nicki Sorensen's confession
The confession of the former cyclist, who competed between 2001 and 2014 under the direction of Bjarne Riis at Saxo Bank (formerly known as CSC), comes in the midst of controversy brought to light today by another Danish tabloid, Ekstra Bladet. His compatriot Michael Rasmussen, whose testimony is one of the main foundations of the Danish authorities' investigation, denounced this newspaper for sending him a copy of the report in which Sorensen's name had been removed.
Tyler Hamilton, Jörg Jaksche, and the investigation into Danish cycling
In his statements to BT, Sorensen denied that the ADD was trying to protect him and stated that Rasmussen must have received a draft of the document by mistake, not the final copy. Rasmussen, dismissed by the Dutch Rabobank when he was on the verge of victory in the 2007 Tour de France, admitted in January 2013 to doping for twelve years (1998-2010).
Based on his confession, the ADD opened an investigation into doping in Danish cycling over the past two decades, which has included reports from other foreign agencies and collected testimonies from former riders such as American Tyler Hamilton and German Jörg Jaksche. Both of them, as well as Rasmussen himself, have directly pointed to Riis, who was dismissed last March as director of Tinkoff Saxo, the team in which Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador competes.