The German cyclist Stefan Schumacher, who has served a two-year doping ban, has admitted regularly knocking back a cocktail of performance-enhancing drugs, likening it to eating pasta after training.
Schumacher was caught in October 2008 when a sample taken during that July's Tour de France was shown to have contained CERA, a variant of the banned blood-booster erythropoeitin.
He also tested positive at the Beijing Olympics.
Schumacher says drug-taking was the norm in his then-team and admits to taking EPO, growth hormones and steroids.
The admission of his doping history was a first for Schumacher, who now races for the Danish team Christina Watches-Onfone, and comes in the wake of the confession by former Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong that he cheated his way to the top.
A number of other top cyclists, notably from the Dutch former Rabobank team, have since admitted regular doping during their careers.
