Switzerland coach Danilo Hondo has been sacked with immediate effect after the German said he was involved in blood doping, the Swiss Cycling federation said in a statement on Sunday.
Hondo told German TV channel ARD he went through with blood manipulation in 2011 and “made the biggest mistake of my life”.
“As I am a national coach in Switzerland and am active with a lot of young riders, and I made a point in recent years of active anti-doping (campaigning), it was clear to me that if I was involved in this case I had to come clean in order to continue what I have been doing since the end of my active career as a pro in recent years,” he added.
The 45-year-old, who was a professional cyclist until 2014, had already served a two-year doping ban after failing a drugs test at the 2005 Tour of Murcia.
Hondo, who won two Giro d’Italia stages in 2001, was named head coach of the Switzerland team in 2017. (Reuters/NAN)
