Serhiy Honchar decided to retire from professional cycling after he was unable to find a team for 2010. Honchar has made his name as a time trialist, but also never could quite shake the doping accusations against him. Honchar is set to become the technical director of the Ukrainian Cycling Federation, according to sportdome.nl.
The 39-year-old started his career in 1996 and was the time trial World Champion in 2000. He finished second in the Giro d’Italia in 2004. He also wore the maglia rosa in the Giro d’Italia and the maillot jaune in the Tour de France in 2006, when he rode for T-Mobile.
T-Mobile was the team that essentially ended his career in 2007. The German squad released the Ukrainian from his contract citing violations against team-internal rules. This was in response to internal testing showing suspicious blood values.
It wasn’t the first time Honchar was connected to doping, as he was kicked out of the 1999 Tour de Suisse due to a hematocrit level of over 50. In 2001 he was accused of doping in the Giro d’Italia, but the allegations were never proven. He was later later released from his contract by his Liquigas team.
The last two years he rode for Preti Mangimi – Prisma Stufe and Team Utensilnord. His last race was the World Championships road race, which he did not finish.