As a reaction to announced last week actions taken by Team Sky towards Sergio Henao, taking the Colombian rider out of race schedule due to questionable results of blood analysis following their usual monthly control, the rider has spoken for the first time to newspaper El Tiempo and his personal statement was released to media today via his representative Giuseppe Acquadro.

The 26-year old Colombian, appointed to play a role of Froome’s exclusive domestique in Sky’s Tour de France campaign, was immediately taken out of race schedule and it was suggested he will be sent to Colombia, reportedly to become a part of a research intended to discover an influence of prolonged periods spent at the sea level on altitude natives and reactions of their organisms following a return to highlands.

In the personal statement issued to Biciciclismo, Cyclingnews and Tuttobiciweb, Henao claimed he has offered Team Sky his full cooperation, including putting himself at their disposal in regards to the mentioned research programme as he hopes it will significantly shorten the time required to get a better understanding of his latest blood results and will enable him to return to competition as soon as possible.

The 26-year old Colombian also stated that he has always respected the ethical values of cycling and respected established rules.

Full statement:

“In relation to the press release from Team Sky rider Sergio Luis Henao considers his duty to express his understanding and sharing the care provided by the team concerning results of blood analysis that has been highlighted last month.

The athlete, in fact, wants to emphasize that he always shared the essential respect for ethical values of cycling as sports discipline such as loyalty and respect for established rules.

The rivalry and pursuit of sporting results have always been subordinated to the fulfillment of these core values.

Therefore, Sergio Henao will make himself open for full cooperation with his team in order to collaborate with the team to complete the medical-scientific investigation: and in order to facilitate these checks he intends to make available the scientific support from highly considered experts that have already been contacted."

The rider is very confident that the outcome of the investigation will be revealed as soon as possible and hopes to quickly return to competition.”

Speaking for the first time since the news about Team Sky taking him out of race schedule have been announced, Henao claimed he was nor worried by the planned further tests and once again underlined his full support for the research proposed by the British squad.

“I have nothing to hide and I'm not worried. The team want to analyse things and look at it all and I will comply with them," Henao told El Tiempo.

“Since arriving at Team Sky I have done 30 controls and I have never had a problem. This is internal with the team. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has never said that there was something suspicious.”

In the interview for El Tiempo, Henao stated that the internal blood test was carried out on in February, when the rider has already returned to Europe just before his participation in the Tour of Oman. However, the information has been corrected by Colombian’s agent Acquadro, who claimed that the test was actually carried out in Colombia in January.

Acquadro also revealed that Henao could have refused to undergo the test as the WADA officials have arrived much later than the time slot stipulated by the rider in his whereabouts data. However, Colombian rider decided to wait for the officials.

“The people from WADA called me in the hour that was stipulated in ADAMS (the whereabouts system), which was between six and seven in the morning. They called me and said that they would arrive at seven, but they got lost so that I had to wait until nine,” Henao revealed to El Tiempo.

Henao is keen to return to competition as soon as possible, however it is expected that he will stay out of competition for at least eight weeks while undergoing more thorough tests in Colombia.

“I hope that we can quickly find a solution to this case and that I can return to competition, because I have lost the best races in Europe. This has been very hard,” he said.