Steffen Kjaersgaard, a team-mate of Lance Armstrong's at US Postal from 2000-03, will not face sanctions, despite admitting to using performance-enhancing drugs, Norwegian anti-doping authorities said on Monday.
The Norwegian admitted doping between 1998 and 2003 at a news conference last October, one day after the International Cycling Union (UCI) confirmed it would not appeal against the stripping of Armstrong's seven Tour de France titles.
However, Anti-Doping Norway said in a statement that an eight-year statute of limitations applied to Kjaersgaard's doping offences and as the last transgression took place in 2003, he would not face any further action.
"The decision was not difficult," Anti-Doping Norway disciplinary committee chief Anstein Gjendgedal told the Verdens Gang newspaper. "Everything that happened prior to 2005 is obsolete."
The 39-year-old renowned time-trialist retired from professional cycling in 2003 with Anti-Doping Norway saying they felt there was no reason to believe he had offended after quitting the sport.
"Anti-Doping Norway's investigations and conversations with Kjaersgaard have not given any information that (he) has used banned substances since the spring of 2003," the statement added.
