Henn surprised by continued doping

Christian Henn, Sport Director at Team Gerolsteiner, has admitted to using doping while riding for Team Telekom in the 1990s, but says that he is stunned that doping is apparently still so widespread in the sport. "That there is still so much doping after the big 1998 Tour de France - Festina scandal, as was suggested by the Fuentes affair. That was a shock. I hadn't counted on that. I was stunned."

Interviewed on ksta.de, Henn said that he spoke out about his doping "to free myself from the shadows of the past." He emphasized that Team Manager Walter Godefroot "did not offer me doping products," and that former soigneur Jef d'Hont was the one who supplied them. "And I really didn't have any idea what the rest [of the team - ed.] was doing."

Some things have changed in the anti-doping fight, Henn noted. "15 years ago there were no doctors with the team, the masseurs had their suitcases full of all kinds of things. That is not the case anymore. Masseurs are just there for massages; the teams pay attention to that now."

"I have seen in Italy -- even at the Giro which just ended -- that undercover investigators work in the start and finish areas, who turn over every stone and listen to every conversation," he added. "Another method that we would be ready for is unannounced controls just before the start. That should happen at the Tour de France this year. We are waiting for the change."