Rob Hayles has insisted he has done nothing wrong and said that he will spend the next few weeks undergoing further tests to clear his name.
Speaking on BBC Radio Five Live, just a few hours after being found with a high haematocrit and suspended for two weeks by the UCI on the first day of the track world championships, Hayles refuted any accusations of blood doping.
This is the full transcript of the interview done by the BBC Peter Salter.
How did this happen and what is that you?ve done that?s caused you to be suspended?
?It?s one of the things I?m asking myself. The test is a health screen to make sure all the riders are fit and healthy to ride and for some reason my haematocrit has gone up above the 50% allowed limit. For what reason I didn?t know, whether I was dehydrated, I don?t know. At the end of the day I?m fit and healthy and consider myself as healthy as I?ve ever been.?
?I?ll be spending the next for weeks having blood controls and urine tests, some of which I?ve asked myself, to show that I?m going to be transparent as I can be for myself and for the whole British team.?
The timing couldn?t be worse on the eve of the world championships; you must be devastated by it because it?s a complete surprise.
?It was a complete surprise and obviously I?m very frustrated because I?m going so well. The timing is pretty bad with the worlds starting today but it?s also going to be very frustrating waiting for the results to come back of urine samples I?ve had taken at lunchtime today.?
How do you defend yourself?
?I defend myself by saying I?m not the first person this has happened to, this happens. I was one of two riders today in our hotel and it happens right across the world and right across other athletes and the tests that come along afterwards show it?s an anomaly and that there was nothing untoward going on behind the scenes.?
Can you say hand on heart you didn?t cheat?
?Definitely. The system we?ve got now in Great Britain is fantastic. The system that we?ve had done today, I totally agree with. It?s just a shame that now and again we have anomalies that come up like this. It will come out in the wash but I fully agree with everything that is being done and I?m going along with everything I can do to help as well.?
People may say that at 35, after you?ve been to two Olympics and Beijing would probably be your last one, maybe you just over stepped the line in the race to achieve an Olympic place for a third consecutive games.
?I?ve not had long to get my head round this but one of the things I?ve looked as is from that point of view. Yeah, I would have been an idiot to do something like that and so it?s definitely something that has not happened, hand on heart.?
?This is why it?s been such a shock to me. If I?d been sat in bed waiting (for the test) that would be one thing but it came totally, totally out of the blue and was a complete shock.?
If you can?t ride at the world championships will you still be able to get your Olympic aims back on track?
?Definitely. This is just kind of a two-week break that I?ve got to do while the tests are being done. Once that?s over I can start racing again and I?m looking forward to doing that. My Olympic dreams are definitely still on track.?
Just to reiterate, your red-blood cell count should have been under 50% and you were just 50.3% but this could have happened naturally.
?Yes, Definitely. If I?d had a crystal ball, I?d have had an extra pint of water before I went to bed and that would have put me under the 50% limit. It?s just one of those things. We?ll wait and see. Everything?s going to be fine, I know that.?
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