Former professional cyclist Danilo Hondo was suspended on Friday for blood doping revealed in an Austrian-led investigation and given a reduced sentence for his confession and cooperation.
Hondo was sanctioned by a sports court in Switzerland, a country where the German was registered as a cyclist and worked as a coach for young cyclists at the time he was implicated in the Operation Aderlass case that revealed a blood doping ring.
Hondo, 48, has been banned from working on sports matters for two and a half years — dating back to September 2019 and now expired — with a further five and a half year suspension due to his “confession and extensive cooperation ”, reported the Swiss Olympic Committee.
Hondo competed at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics for the German track pursuit team. In a long road race he won two stages at the 2001 Giro d’Italia, where he was runner-up in the points classification.
He previously served a suspension after being caught doping in 2005.
Hondo was a coach for the Swiss cycling federation in 2019 when Austrian investigators revealed a doping ring involving blood transfusions linked to a doctor in Germany.
The former cyclist admitted in an interview with the German media consortium ARD that he had been doping since 2011, near the end of his career.
The Swiss court ordered Hondo to pay compensation of 12,500 Swiss francs ($12,500) plus the legal costs of his disciplinary investigation.