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 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.

The message I understood was this: Just don't get caught!

I can count off on one hand the number of times I've used testosterone gel - because it doesn't really do much.

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.

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

It's possible that the name Bettini came up at some point during a conversation with the German Cycling Federation's anti-doping commission, but I certainly didn't claim that he gave me any drugs. They made that up. Bettini warned me: If you said that, then things could get dangerous for you.