Hondo's attorney optimistic

By Susan Westemeyer

Despite his client being fired by his Gerolsteiner team for testing positive to carphedon and facing a probably career-ending two-year suspension, Danilo Hondo's lawyer Michael Lehner is still hopeful.

"There are good chances to reduce the sentence, and we will try to take advantage of them," said Lehner. "That particularly applies to the level of the athlete's personal guilt."

With an eye on the upcoming hearing before the Swiss cycling federation (expected to be the end of May), Lehner said that everything depends on whether it is found that the drug was intentionally taken or not. "Hondo will have to explain and prove whether he deliberately took the drug or not. The question of intent is crucial to the possibility of reducing the sentence."