I stayed in Hamburg a few more days, and during that time I received a visit from Rolf Aldag, the sporting director at T-Mobile. He advised me to tell the truth.

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.

I rubbed the contents of one bag onto my upper arm on the evening of June 7, just before I went to bed. I thought: Well, it can't hurt. I flushed the packaging down the toilet.

Ampoules containing cortisone, testosterone gel residues, syringes and needles, a centrifuge for measuring my blood values.But, contrary to the erroneous reports in the press, they didn't find any EPO or growth hormone.

The truth is that things were already going so poorly for me that nothing surprised me anymore. But then the BKA sent 20 agents to search my house.

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.

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