Boogerd has never been able to repeat his 1999 win(Image credit: Elmar Krings)
Michael Boogerd would always target the race(Image credit: Sirotti)
2004 winner Erik Dekker (Rabobank)(Image credit: Chris Henry)
Denis Menchov won the Vuelta a Espana in 2007 for Rabobank.(Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Robert Gesink after his morning's exertions.(Image credit: Barry Ryan)
The Dutch Anti-Doping Authority says there will be proceedings against Michael Boogerd following his doping confession, but it is unclear who will conduct them. Meanwhile, former teammates and Dutch riders have expressed their opinions on Boogerd's statements, with Denis Menchov and Erik Dekker refusing to join in on the series of Rabobank doping confessions.
“There will be a process, but we still see who will hold the disciplinary proceedings on his behalf. That is the normal practice in such cases," Dutch ADA director Herman Ram told nusport.nl.
The UCI might take over the process as Boogerd was part of the UCI testing pool for the period in which he said he doped. "Athletes who are part of the UCI testing pool fall automatically under the jurisdiction of the International Cycling Union. The UCI must therefore determine whether they start the disciplinary case against Boogerd start or whether we should do."
Reactions: Menchov and Erik Dekker with nothing to say
Now that Boogerd, Michael Rasmussen and Thomas Dekker have all confessed to doping whilst at Rabobank, the pressure is on another big-name former Rabobank ride, Denis Menchov. The Russian,currently with Katusha, had little to say.
Boogerd's confession “was his choice. I have nothing further to say. Cycling is much cleaner, hopefully we can continue that way,” he told De Telegraaf.
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He also denied being close to the Dutch rider. “I never talked about doping with Boogerd. We were not friends, but colleagues.”
Another ex-rider who says he will not confess is Erik Dekker, who rode for Rabobank from 1992 to 2006, and upon his retirement became a directeur sportif, a role he now holds for the follow-up team Blanco.
As to his former teammate's confession, “I really do not comment,” he told AD.nl. "You can ask anything, but I say nothing."
Dekker continued, “I will not go into it, because it is just like the last time there was a story about me in the newspaper. So stop now.”
Does he think the Dutch fans want to know? "Yes, I understand everything, but I am obliged to nothing. And I hope you respect that I have nothing to say about it. "
Rabobank withdrew its sponsorship the end of last season, and the team is now running as Team Blanco, still without a main sponsor. Team captain Robert Gesink, now at Paris-Nice, overlapped with Boogerd at Rabobank in the 2007 season. “I don't think that many people were surprised by this. If Michael Boogerd did wrong things, it is good that he confesses. Hopefully now the doping stories are finished and we can look ahead,” he told De Telegraaf.
Blanco's Lars Boom, and Bauke Mollema both joined the team after Boogerd had left, and spoke with Nusport.nl. Boom said, “I have no words for people who used doping for years and now confess. Hopefully this bullshit is now finished. I'm not going to waste any energy on it.”
Mollema said Boogerd “waited too long, his credibility had fallen to zero. It would have been brave of him if he had confessed half a year ago."
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