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Ullrich denies involvement in Spanish case
Just days before the start of the Tour de France, former winner Jan Ullrich has been dragged into Spain's blood-doping scandal.
Spanish newspaper El País claimed Monday that documents found in a raid ona laboratory run by tainted doctor Eufemiano Fuentes could relate to the 1997 champion.
However Ullrich said in a team statement: "That has nothing to do with me," and his T-Mobile sporting director and mentor Rudy Pevenage added: "We have done nothing wrong."
T-Mobile's director of communication Christian Frommert added: "These are serious accustions. We are in contact with all the people concerned, particularly the Spanish investigators, and are trying to find out where these accusations have come from."
The newspaper said two code names - Hijo Rudicio (Rudicio's son) and Jan -could be used to describe Ullrich, who has been the subject of Spanish press speculation over the blood-doping saga since Operation Puerto was launched on May 23.
El País claimed to have cracked the codes contained in documents pertaining to the doses of blood-doping taken by clients of the laboratory.
"Some names were easy to decipher whereas others were more complicated," said El País. "According to the investigators, Rudicio was Rudy, Rudy Pevenage, the sports director who the past few years has become Jan Ullrich's sporting father."
The newspaper claims the laboratory took less care to disguise names a few years ago, with a document from June 26, 2004 linking a client named "Jan" to three blood-boosting pouches.
The name "Jan" also appears on receipts for doping products worth more than 1900 euros ($2400), it added.
Ullrich's Spanish T-Mobile teammate Oscar Sevilla has been implicated in the affair although at the end of May he denied having any contact with Fuentes.
El País claims Sevilla told other cyclists: "If they sack me, they have to sack Ullrich too, he's also involved."
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