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

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.

My mother had to justify the fact that she had heart pills.

I wasn't in a position to defend myself. Sometimes it's a brutal profession. The first thing I thought of at the time was revenge. I have a more levelheaded take on the issue today.

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.

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

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