|
Biggest dope scandal in years
28/05/2006 15:52 - (SA)
Madrid - Former cyclist Jesus Manzano, who two years ago made sensational allegations of systematic drug use by the Kelme team, helped investigators probing what could the sport's biggest doping scandal in years, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on Sunday.
Spanish cycling is currently in turmoil following a series of raids which have led to five arrests and could spell the end for the Liberty Seguros Pro Tour cycling team.
The investigation has been centred on two doctors who are alleged to have been involved in manipulating and cleansing the blood samples of up to 200 athletes at a laboratory in Madrid.
Both doctors, Jose Luis Merino and Eufemiano Fuentes, were released from custody on Saturday after posting bail of 120 000-euros bail each.
Fuentes - Manzano's former doctor at Kelme - is being painted as the principal perpetrator because he was working at the laboratory where police found much of their evidence.
After the raids police seized more than 200 packets of frozen blood and blood plasma as well as a large number of documents detailing cyclists and athletes' doping methods, as well as training plans.
According to the Madrid chief of police: "A large number of professional athletes could be involved in using these illicit methods."
On Sunday it emerged that statements made by Manzano to judges at the time of his allegations two years ago had been central to the investigation.
Growth hormones were still widely used
Two years ago Manzano claimed that banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin) and growth hormones were still widely used in the peloton and that he had been forced to submit himself to illegal practices by his team.
Manzano alleged Fuentes had injected him with "18 to 20" shots of EPO in Madrid six weeks prior to him racing his first Giro d'Italia, in 2001.
However Manzano's most chilling allegation centred on his 2003 Tour de France, when he claimed to have been injected with an unknown substance which led to him collapsing on stage seven.
After that race - where he claimed that blood transfusions were openly practised by Kelme - Manzano said he travelled to Valencia in eastern Spain after feeling ill after a transfusion.
Once there, he claimed that Fuentes' collaborators had risked his life when he fainted after being injected by 175 centilitres of blood from vials which had not been labelled.
"Once I'd come round, I asked them to take me to the hospital but they refused," Manzano said.
"I don't know what happened to me, all I know is the vials of blood relating to the cyclists from Kelme were not labelled or personalised in any way."
Although Fuentes has been released on bail, the fallout could lead to fresh scandal.
Cadena Ser radio reported in midweek that German ace Jan Ullrich, a former Tour de France winner, was a one-time client of Fuentes.
The station also reported that Ivan Basso, currently leading Giro, had been a Fuentes' client but he denied the claim, saying on Wednesday that he had "never had anything to do with him."
The scandal follows the two-year ban handed to former Liberty rider Roberto Heras, who tested positive for EPO following the penultimate stage time trial of the Tour of Spain in 2005.
Heras won a record fourth Tour of Spain but was stripped of the title.
The latest scandal may now spell the end for Liberty Seguros, whose manager Manolo Saiz was arrested then released by investigators in midweek.
Phone taps by investigators in Spain led to Saiz's arrest, and the company which sponsors the team has now ended its sponsorship.
- AFP
|
