By his own admission, Rasmussen used performance enhancing substances for 13 years leading up to 2010 without ever being caught. That 13-year-span means that Rasmussen doped both before and after the introduction of the biological passport.

“My haematocrit never aroused suspicion during those years, nor would it have done so if the biological passport had been introduced back then,” Rasmussen boldly states in an interview with Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet today, referring the period prior to the biological passport being introduced in 2008.

He continued to dope after 2008, however, thus proving it possible to circumvent the biological passport. In the interview Rasmussen states that the biological passport “does some good” and that it might be useful to some degree, but he also emphasizes that it fails to prevent blood transfusions.

Rasmussen currently serves a two-year-ban because of his doping offences. His sentence has been reduced because he has chosen to cooperate with the doping authorities. Following a period of immense pressure in the wake of numerous confessions from many other former riders, Rasmussen decided to confess his sins from the past in a press conference on January 31. Even if he had chosen to remain silent, he is convinced that the truth would have come out eventually.

“Even though I doped for 13 years and managed to circumvent all controls, it became impossible to hide the truth in the end. Therefore I would advise everyone to stay away from doping. It’s wrong and the truth will prevail eventually,” he goes on to say in the interview.