Spanish newspaper As reported today that the Spanish cycling federation (RFEC) has asked authorities for test results and records from the Operación Puerto case that was reopened last month.
Spanish newspaper As reported today that the Spanish cycling federation (RFEC) has asked authorities for test results and records from the Operación Puerto case that was reopened last month.
Apparently, the RFEC is out to discipline cyclists and staff involved in the investigation using the information they have requested from a Madrid court.
The Operación Puerto investigation erupted during the May of 2006 when raids uncovered thousands of doses of anabolic steroids, equipment to manipulate and transfuse blood, and over 200 bags of blood with coded labels from residences of doctor Eufemiano Fuentes and his accomplices.
In the long list of athletes given by Spanish police, only three have admitted their involvement with the Spanish doctor. Italians Ivan Basso and Michele Scarponi and German Jörg Jaksche are the only riders to have come clean.
Last month a Madrid court ordered the case be reopened after considering appeals. A move which likely prompted the DNA analysis and comparison by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) of Spanish rider Alejandro Valverde’s blood sample from last years Tour de France.
Valverde appeared before an anti-doping hearing in Rome last week where CONI said the Spaniard’s DNA matched the blood evidence collected in the Operación Puerto raids.
Federico Cecconi, Valverde’s high-powered lawyer, said the rider maintains his innocence.