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Spanish daily links 58 riders to doping probe
Spanish daily El Páis dropped a bombshell in its Sunday edition, reporting that 58 cyclists — among whom are said to be 15 riders from the Astaná-Würth team and others who competed in last month’s Giro d’Italia — are named in police and court documents as part of the "Operación Puerto" doping investigation in Spain.
The story did not name the riders, but described court documents – which still have not been publicly released – purporting to outline a "criminal network" said to be organized and administered by five people accused of involvement in the distribution of banned substances, such as EPO, human growth hormones and anabolic steroids, and running a blood-doping ring.
Spanish doctors Eufemiano Fuentes and José Luis Merino (head of hematology for a Madrid hospital); Manolo Sáiz (the former manager at Astaná-Würth); José Ignacio Labarta (former assistant sports director at Comunidad Valenciana); and Alberto León, a former mountain biker, were arrested May 23 by the doping brigade of Spain’s Guardia Civil after a four-month investigation.
No official charges or reports have been released by the Spanish judiciary or other investigating officials. And while the Tour de France earlier this month revoked its wild-card invitation to Comunidad Valenciana following Labarta’s detention, the UCI last week approved a ProTour license for Astaná-Würth, basing its decision strictly on banking information and other financial guarantees required by UCI rules.
While El País did not release any athletes’ names, its story nonetheless had a prompt and significant impact. On Sunday, following its publication, racers in the Spanish national road championships quit in protest after riding just 3km.
El País’s report, said to be based on direct access to court documents, alleged that Fuentes had been treating up to 15 members of the Astaná-Würth team. The newspaper reported that one Excel document allegedly lists names and racing schedules while another document allegedly outlines a doping program said to have been administered by Fuentes, with symbols and codes to outline dosages of EPO, human growth hormones, IGF-1 and HMG, and testosterone patches as well as indications for extractions and re-injections of blood.
According to the newspaper, court documents allege that athletes would pay upwards of 40,000 euros a year to be handled by Fuentes and Merino, who were said to work together to extract blood from the athletes, then clean and treat it to enrich valued red blood cells for later re-injection ahead of competition.
El País reported that the evidence includes scores of phone taps and videos as well as photographs of suspects entering and leaving laboratories and offices used by the alleged network.
Police also uncovered fake names and initials in notebooks to mark such details as payments for services. Nicknames such as "Guri, Jorge, Zapatero and Etxebarria" appear in such books, with "paid" or "not paid" written next to them.
The riders are coded by colors — blue, allegedly for Liberty Seguros-Würth; green, allegedly for Comunidad Valenciana; and "mios," allegedly for private clients of Fuentes — the newspape reported.
Agents also found a refrigerator "filled with 90 bags of blood or concentrates of red blood cells, frozen and identified with a number and date," the newspaper reported. Some transfusions were alleged to have taken place in a Madrid hotel, the report said. El Pais also recounted allegations that Merino, using his position as head of hematology at a Madrid hospital, used hospitals and pharmacies within Spain’s nationalized health system, apparently without their knowledge, to obtain materials and medicines to treat and store the blood.
The Madrid prosecutor said those implicated face charges of crimes against public health, El País reported. The five are said to have told court officials that they helped with the network, but argued that doping in sport is not a crime in Spain, El Pais reported. Manuel Moix, the head prosecutor on the case, said any charges could be based on how the blood was conserved.
El País also published a tapped phone conversation, purportedly between Labarta and Fuentes, about how they would split money owed by Saíz, whom the speakers refer to as "El Gordo," or the fat one. On May 23, Spanish authorities detained Saíz, who was said to be carrying 60,000 euros worth of mixed currencies and a "cold bag" containing four packets of the banned product Synacthene – not blood, as previously reported.
In another story, El País recounted parts of Saíz’s testimony before a Spanish judge. According to court documents described by the newspaper, Saíz said that Fuentes began working with Liberty Seguros (now Astaná) riders in 2004 after signing Roberto Heras, who insisted on working with him.
Heras was later banned for two years and stripped of victory after testing positive for EPO in the 2005 Vuelta a España. The rider insists he is innocent and attributed the positive test to an error. Other riders alleged to have worked with Fuentes were Isidro Nozal, Angel Vicioso and Marcos Serrano, though Nozal dropping Fuentes after he tested for high hematocrit before the 2005 Dauphiné Libéré, the paper reported. Court documents are said to link 15 riders – more than half the Astaná-Würth lineup – to Fuentes.
There was no immediate reaction from UCI or Tour de France officials, but with less than a week to go before the start of the 2006 Tour, race officials will be under pressure to take action despite the unofficial nature of the news stories.
Meanwhile, those implicated have all denied wrongdoing. Labarta, who stepped down from his position at Comunidad Valenciana in a vain effort to save the team’s Tour wild-card bid, said media reports have been "exaggerated" and that he wants to wait to comment until the court makes public any indictments. Saíz, who also voluntarily stepped down from day-to-day operations but retains his portion of ownership of the team, has also denied any wrongdoing in the case. Fuentes, who worked as a team doctor at ONCE and Kelme during the 1990s, said he has a "clear conscience." "My ethics are intact and I believe that I haven’t hurt anyone," Fuentes told the Spanish daily Levante earlier this month. "In 28 years as a professional doctor, I cannot remember one case of hurting the health of one of my patients. If something had happened, I would have realized it because they would have told me themselves or filed a negligence suit, which has never happened.
"Just like any doctor, I always try everything to protect and guard the health of my clients."
