Vincent Egbers, the president of the Dutch Doping Authority, spoke to the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper about the next steps in the process concerning German cyclist Michel Hessmann (22 years old). “Now we’ve reached the phase where the athlete can explain the situation himself. The question remains whether this is a small misstep on his part or if there’s more to it. He received medical guidance for this medication, but did he forget to apply for an exemption?”
Could Hessmann, who competed in this year’s Giro d’Italia, have ingested something by accident? “We’ve actually never experienced this, but he might have taken a dietary supplement that was contaminated? The B sample can also be analyzed to see if something went wrong during the initial test.”
Nevertheless, Egbers was taken aback by the news involving the Dutch selection. “I didn’t expect this to happen with a cyclist from a highly professional and very transparent team regarding doping. I’m very pleased with Jumbo-Visma’s transparency. And the substance itself doesn’t really make you cycle faster. It flushes fluid if you have too much liquid in your lungs, for instance. It’s on the list of prohibited substances because it can mask prior doping use.”