Spanish authorities drop public contract with clinic, forcing closure
Handed a lifetime ban last year but rumoured to have still been working regardless, the Spanish doctor Luis Gardia del Moral has now been hit by the closure of the sports clinic he was running in Valancia.
Del Moral was a core figure with the US Postal Service team and was accused by numerous riders of providing them with doping substances. He choose not to fight USADA’s charges despite knowing that he faced a lifetime ban as a result.
Now local authorities have dropped their support of his clinic, thus bringing to an end a public contract he had from the local government. According to the Spanish daily Las Provincias, this has hit his clinic hard, forcing its closure.
The news will be greeted by those who were dismayed by recent suggestions that he was continuing to carry on working, ignoring the lifetime ban.
The Spanish Anti Doping Agency hinted that it may have had a hand in how things turned out. “This is a consequence of the work we have done,” a spokesperson said.
Also handed lifetime bans last year were US Postal Service team leader Lance Armstrong and the doctor Michele Ferrari. Armstrong was stripped of all of the results he had clocked up since August 1st 1998, including seven Tours de France.
Three others who were charged with doping-related offences will undergo USADA hearings this year. They are former USPS team manager Johan Bruyneel, another former team doctor Pedro Celaya and the coach Pepe Marti.
It was originally anticipated that their hearings would take place towards the end of 2012. While there have been several months of delays, VeloNation understands that USADA has not dropped those cases.
Bruyneel had been working as the general manager of RadioShack Nissan in 2012 but lost that position.