Published October 30, 2013 10:46AM
In his autobiography that will be available for purchase next week, controversial Danish rider Michael Rasmussen claims to have taught Ryder Hesjedal, the 2012 Giro d’Italia champion, how to use EPO.
Rasmussen wrote that in 2003 when Hesjedal was an up-and-comer on the mountain bike scene, he introduced the Canadian and two of his teammates to the blood-booster. Rasmussen said he never witnessed Hesjedal take EPO, but in an excerpt of his book obtained by Politiken, he claimed the three riders stayed in his basement in August of that year and left with hematocrit values that were close to the UCI limit.
“Chris Sheppard was 16th at the [2003] world championships, Seamus McGrath was sixth or eighth, before he went out, and Ryder Hesjedal finished second,” Rasmussen wrote. “Hesjedal would have won Olympic gold [in 2004] if he hadn’t punctured just before the finish.”