I wouldn't call it an addiction. But the truth is, when you join a team as a new professional you encounter a system. As a young rider, older riders let you know how the business works.

Riders called me up afterwards to say that they had had no other choice. I couldn't understand the way they changed their tune.

I made a big mistake. There's no doubt about it. But there have been positive testing cases in the past where the offender wasn't attacked to quite the same extent, especially not by other riders.

The patient in the bed next to me told me that the newspapers were reporting on the test, and it was on television all day long.

The crazy thing is that I really wasn't under any pressure. My contract wasn't going to expire until the end of 2008, and everyone was satisfied with me. But I wasn't. I always wanted to improve.

I wouldn't call it an addiction. But the truth is, when you join a team as a new professional you encounter a system. As a young rider, older riders let you know how the business works.

Of course they were saying: No doping! But as a rider, it's difficult to believe that things can really change from one day to the next.