Cycling: Dutch cyclist Michael Boogerd doped for a decade

Michael Boogerd: 'I'm sorry I kept the [doping] culture alive' (Getty Images)

Former Dutch cyclist Michael Boogerd, a spring classic specialist who once edged Lance Armstrong to win the Amstel Gold Race, has admitted he used performance-enhancing drugs for a decade.

"I used EPO, cortisone and in the last period of my career I did blood transfusions," Boogerd said. He said he doped from 1997 to 2007, a period that covered almost his entire professional career.

"I'm sorry I kept the [doping] culture alive," he said. "I'm sorry I never put up my hand and publicly said, 'This can't go on. It's not good.' And I'm sorry I wasn't riding in another era."

He said that he had used an Austrian blood laboratory, Humanplasma, for transfusions.