Hincapie priznal: Lance uporabljal krvne transfuzije (uradna izjava)

»Zaradi ljubezni do tega športa in stvari, ki sem jih dal kolesarstvu in kar mi je v vseh teh letih kolesarstvo dalo, je težko priznati, da sem v delu svoje kariere jemal prepovedana poživila, « je v izjavi za javnost dejal George Hincapie, ki je prav letos končal 18 let dolgo športno pot:

»V začetku kariere mi je postalo jasno, da ob razširjenosti prepovedanih poživil v kolesarstvu brez poživil ne bom mogel biti konkurenčen. To izbiro globoko obžalujem in se opravičujem družini, klubskim kolegom in navijačem. « Hincapie je še dodal, da je v zadnjih šestih sezonah nastopal čist.

»Od leta 2006 sem v kolesarstvu trdo delal, da bi se znebili prepovedanih poživil. V tem času sem uspešno nastopal na najvišjem nivoju in obenem učil mlade kolesarje,da ne bi izbrali pravo pot in bi tako spremenili kolesarstvo. « Hincapie je še dodal, da so ga pred tremi leti preiskovalci prvič zaslišali, v zadnjem času pa je »vso resnico« povedal še preiskovalcem iz Usade.

Hincapie je še dodal, da je kolesarstvo postalo precej bolj čist šport, kot je bilo včasih. Armstronga v izjavi sploh ni omenjal, čeprav je zapisal, da bi mu bilo sicer lažje, če bi govoril samo o svojih dejanjih, a je moral, če je hotel povedati vso resnico, vplesti tudi druge …

»Tik pred Tourom 2005 sem potreboval EPO in Lancea Armstronga sem vprašal, če mi ga lahko dobavi. Lance je rekel, da lahko in medtem ko sva bila v Nici mi je dal dve ampuli epa. Po pogovorih z Lanceom in ostalimi kolegi se zavedam, da je Lance krvne transfuzije uporabljal med letih 2001 in 2005,« naj bi Hincapie razkril preiskovalcem pri Usadi. Dodal je še, da so morali epo hraniti na hladnem in da so zato praktično vsi kolesarji v moštvu US Postal Service okrog hodili s termo plastenkami, polnimi ledu.

URADNA IZJAVA GEORGEA HINCAPIEJA
For over 30 years I have dedicated my life to cycling. I have always been determined to compete at the highest level, in one of the most physically demanding sports. With hard work and success have come great blessings from the sport I love. Teammates have become dear friends and I have worked hard to earn the respect of my competitors. I have been associated with managers and team officials whose professionalism is unparalleled. Wonderful fans have supported my family and me since I began this great journey. For all of this and more, I am truly grateful and proud. Because of my love for the sport, the contributions I feel I have made to it, and the amount the sport of cycling has given to me over the years, it is extremely difficult today to acknowledge that during a part of my career I used banned substances. Early in my professional career, it became clear to me that, given the widespread use of performance enhancing drugs by cyclists at the top of the profession, it was not possible to compete at the highest level without them. I deeply regret that choice and sincerely apologize to my family, teammates and fans. Quietly, and in the way I know best, I have been trying to rectify that decision. I have competed clean and have not used any performance enhancing drugs or processes for the past six years. Since 2006, I have been working hard within the sport of cycling to rid it of banned substances. During this time, I continued to successfully compete at the highest level of cycling while mentoring young professional riders on the right choices to make to ensure that the culture of cycling had changed. Two years ago, I was approached by US Federal investigators, and more recently by USADA, and asked to tell of my personal experience in these matters. I would have been much more comfortable talking only about myself, but understood that I was obligated to tell the truth about everything I knew. So that is what I did. Cycling has made remarkable gains over the past several years and can serve as a good example for other sports. Thankfully, the use of performance enhancing drugs is no longer embedded in the culture of our sport, and younger riders are not faced with the same choice we had. I am proud to be part of the cycling community, and believe we continue to make positive changes to our sport. I applaud the extraordinary achievements of my fellow riders on and off the bike. Cycling is an incredible sport that not only requires unbelievable physical ability to ride hundreds of miles a day for many days on end; it also requires a certain type of dedication, ambition and character. I have been fortunate to compete with teammates whose commitment and talent will be hard to match. As a rider I have dedicated a large part of my career to helping those teammates succeed. As I begin the next chapter in my cycling life, I look forward to playing a significant part in developing, encouraging and helping young riders to compete and win with the best in the world.