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Former Cycling Star Leif Hoste Discloses Severe Alcohol Addiction, Says He Is Six Months Sober

The Belgian ex-professional describes repeated emergency admissions with life‑threatening blood alcohol levels after retiring in 2012.

Overview

  • Hoste detailed his struggle in an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws, which was subsequently reported by Frankfurter Rundschau, BILD, and dpa/Tagesspiegel.
  • He says he was taken to hospital at least ten times with blood alcohol readings above 4.5‰, a level doctors warned could be fatal.
  • At his worst, he reports drinking up to three bottles of vodka a day and once leaving the hospital to immediately buy more alcohol.
  • He describes the addiction as a fight for survival that eclipsed any sporting challenge and says he could no longer distinguish day from night.
  • Recent coverage notes post‑career turmoil, a two‑year doping suspension over biological passport irregularities, interventions by friends and family, and his claim of roughly six months without alcohol.