The letters and threats Fredrik received were more than enough reasons for him to be sad. However, Astana found himself in a dope mess and some team members testing positive for EPO. Fredrik thought it was a stupid idea and wasn’t sure whether to blame the team management for that.
Fredrik, who had become very ill, said that getting threat messages didn’t make it easy for him. He admitted he wasn’t going as fast as he wanted in some of his later races, but even with the bad performances, doping was clearly not one thing he was going to do to help the situation. Before his injuries, he had had some remarkable wins. His results and wins he said he got 100 percent clean with no traces of dope.
The Swedish former professional country road cyclist and mountain bike cyclist was raised in Athens, Greece and Frankfurt, Germany. He had the drive to succeed as a bike rider. Having fallen on asphalts and bruised by gravels to be a champion, he understood that there are no shortcuts to success. So he was dedicated, convicted and focused.
Most of his success came as a mountain biker, he won the Swedish national championship 4 times. After winning Tour de Austria in 2011, 2012 was another one of the best years of his 15-year career.
- In 2012, Tour de France, he wore the polka-dot (King of the mountains) jersey for a few days.
- In 2012, Vuelta a España, he won after beating Alberto Contador, Chris Froome, Alejandro Valverde and Tony Martin
- In 2012, Tour de Suisse, he won after beating Fabian Cancellara
In 2012, he came out with a few other outstanding results even though he was not in the first place like Giro dell’Emili and in Giro di Lombardia where he finished 2nd and 10th respectively.
During the 2013 Tour de France which drew a lot of attention because it was the 100th birthday of Tour de France, Fredrik was withdrawn before the end of the race.