According to Danish newspaper Politiken, Michael Rasmussen has claimed that three out of five Danish riders at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens doped during the Games.

Back then the Danish team consisted of Lars Michaelsen, Frank Høj, Nicki Sørensen, Bo Hamburger and Michael Rasmussen. Given their pasts, it would be tempting to conclude that Hamburger and Rasmussen himself made up two thirds of the trio using illicit drugs.

Such an assumption would be misguided, however, according to Bo Hamburger. He was recently hired as sports director by Christina Watches-Onfone, a team partly owned by Rasmussen.

“To be frank, I have no recollection of that story but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true,” Hamburger says to Cyclingquotes.com, “but I’m not one of the three guys Rasmussen mentions.”

Hamburger refuses to discuss how the riders talked about doping at the time, but he acknowledges that the dialogue back then was “peculiar”.

“There’s always been a somewhat strange discussion about doping inside cycling. Some things could be debated quite openly while other subjects were kept in the dark. Everybody wanted to keep their own little secrets.”

Cortisone in a tape recorder makes sense

Rasmussen alleges that one of the Danish riders managed to smuggle a needle into the Olympic city despite thorough security checks. Apparently the needle was smuggled in through a secret room in a tape recorder. Rasmussen goes on to assert that three of the five Danish riders injected themselves with cortisone.

When asked if Rasmussen’s story seems credible, Hamburger tells Cyclingquotes.com that Rasmussen’s story does in fact appear reliable.

“To me it makes sense and seems credible.”

In his 2007 autobiography “The Ultimate Price – confessions of a rider” Hamburger admits to doping from 1995 to 1997. In 2001 he was tested positive for EPO but was subsequently acquitted by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

“I’ve never used cortisone,” Hamburger says. “In my book I’ve said all I have to say about doping at the time.”