Garmin-Sharp team-mate vouches for Canadian rider, believes he has been racing clean in recent years
Speaking days after Ryder Hesjedal admitted to using banned substances earlier in his career, his current Garmin-Sharp team-mate Dan Martin has said that he still considers him to be a friend and that he believes that the Canadian has been competing clean in recent years.
Hesjedal was implicated by Michael Rasmussen, who wrote in his tell-all autobiography that he and two other Canadians had stayed with the Dane prior to the 2003 mountainbike world championships, and that Rasmussen had taught them how to use banned substances.
Several hours later Hesjedal admitted past doping, saying that he had chosen ‘the wrong path’ more than a decade ago.
“And even though those mistakes happened more than ten years ago, and they were short-lived, it does not change the fact that I made them and I have lived with that and been sorry for it ever since,” he said.
He joined the Garmin-Sharp/Slipstream structure in 2008, as did Martin. They have competed together ever since. Martin vouched for his team-mate on Tuesday.
“Obviously it doesn’t change my opinion of him,” he told VeloNation. “I am proud with how the team has coped with it.
“He came to the team to have the opportunity to race clean, like we all did. That was the reason why Jonathan [Vaughters] started the team, to give guys like Ryder the opportunity to fulfil their potential clean. It is unfortunate the way it has come out, as all these situations are, but I think we are going to move on.
“He is a friend and I definitely won’t be looking at him in any different light than before.”