Updated Feb 19, 2013 5:32 PM ET MADRID (AP) Disgraced former U.S. cyclist Tyler Hamilton told a Spanish court Tuesday he paid about €30,000 ($40,000) a year to the doctor at the heart of the Operation Puerto scandal for blood doping and other drug supply services to boost his performance in competition.
Hamilton told Judge Julia Santamaria via video link that he used blood doping services some 15 times and had also bought blood booster EPO, testosterone, growth hormone and insulin off defendant Eufemiano Fuentes.
Hamilton said he paid between €25,000 and €30,000 for the services in 2002 and 2003. He then agreed to pay €50,000 ($67,000) for 2004, but was not able to complete the treatment because he tested positive for receiving someone else's blood in September 2004.
Hamilton was stripped of his gold medal from the 2004 Athens Olympics last year after confessing to doping.