Marcos Maynar, professor or exercise physiology at the University of Extremadura in Cáceres, western Spain was banned by the Portuguese Cycling Federation last week from working with its riders for ten years. He was found guilty after being accused of dealing and administering doping substances and also for covering up the result of an investigation opened in the LA-MSS team after the sudden death of rider Bruno Neves in May 2008. Maynar however, claims that he is the victim of a conspiracy hatched by the Federation’s president, Artur Lopes and the head of the Portuguese Anti-Doping Association, Luis Horta.
In an interview with Spanish newspaper El Mundo, Maynar denounced the suspension, claiming that the Portuguese Federation had no jurisdiction over him as he had very limited involvement with cyclists. “I do not have a license as a team doctor,” he claimed, “I just collaborated on a few races.
“They seem to have exaggerated my role and are seeking a scapegoat to hide their problems. They just want to hurt me. Now they have to prove, with evidence, what they accuse me of. But I insist, they have no power over me.
“I am not the doctor to Spanish or foreign cyclists,” he went on to claim. “There is hypocrisy here.”
Controversy has followed Maynar for a number of years. In 2003 he defended Athletic Bilbao footballer Carlos Gurpegui, arguing that he produced high levels of nandrolone naturally. Gurpegui was suspended for two years. He was arrested in 2004 after police found anabolic steroids in his possession.
“That was cleared up and I left without charge,” he said, “because the products were used in my research”
Maynar is the latest in a line of doctors, claims El Mundo, linked by the common thread of Eufemiano Fuentes, the notorious doctor at the centre of the Operación Puerto doping scandal. Other past associates of both include Jesus Losa and Alberto Beltran. Losa was the doctor riders including Maribel Moreno and Moises Duenas, who both tested positive for EPO last year, and was named by David Millar as a supplier of doping products after his suspension in 2005. Beltran was the team doctor at the Portuguese team Liberty Seguros, who had a rash of positives at the Tour of Portugal this year.