Former Accent.jobs – Wanty rider Stefan van Dijk has been punished with an eight-year ban and 10,000 Euro fine for undergoing ozone therapy. Earlier this year Dutch cyclist announced his retirement, citing a lack of employment opportunities as responsible for his decision.

The 37-year old Dutch cyclist, Omloop van het Houtland’s best rider in 2010 and winner of stages in Tour de Wallonie (2010) and Post Denmark Rundt (2002), benefited from using illegal doping methods ten times during 2011 season, when he rode for Veranda's Willems – Accent team, when as it was recently reported by Belgian media he had blood extracted and then infused on certain occasions.  An ozone therapy is a method which includes taking out blood, treating it with ozone and the re-injecting it, thus is prohibited according to WADA code as any other form of blood transfusion.

“I did not undergo therapy to cycle faster," he told Sporza.be.

"It was to heal faster. I had it at that time because of mononucleosis. That bothered me fiercely during training."

It is not the first doping case for Stefan van Dijk, as he was previously handed a year-long suspension from Flemish Anti-Doping Commision after missing an out-of-competition drug test at his home in 2005, as a MrBookmaker.com rider. According to the doping control inspector Hans Cooman, Van Dijk drove away when he saw the Flemish anti-doping bus parked outside his house in Oud-Turnhout. Refusing to take a doping test is treated the same way as testing positive.

Earlier this week we reported on Cyclingquotes about the progress in the Mantova investigation, which also concerns riders accused of undergoing illegal ozone therapy.