Eufemiano Fuentes, the doctor at the centre of a Spanish doping probe, could be jailed for up to two years for crimes against public health, a Madrid court said.

The court said in a statement prosecutors have asked for a two-year sentence for Eufemiano Fuentes and six others, including his sister Yolanda and former cycling team directors Manolo Saiz, Vicente Belda and Jose Ignacio Labarta.

From Articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com:

Authorities also wanted them banned from practising their professions for the same period, the statement added.

Raids at the start of the operation uncovered anabolic steroids, blood transfusion equipment and more than 200 code-named blood bags, some of which were linked to cyclists including former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich and Giro d’Italia champion Ivan Basso.

The investigation was halted twice without any prosecutions having been made but a court ordered it to be reopened last year.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has expressed its frustration at the refusal by judicial authorities of Spain to allow them access to evidence from the operation.

Tags: anabolic steroids, doping, Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich, Tour de France

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Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-SunGard) is keen to excel at the London Olympic games next year.

The cyclist explained at the team presentation in Copenhagen that it would not be wise to at least attempt the feat with the proximity of the event to next year’s Tour de France.

From Cyclingnews.com:

Contador finished fourth in the event in the Beijing games, 1:18 behind gold medalist Fabian Cancellara. The Swiss rider will again be a rival of Contador’s in London, to say nothing of rising time trial stars Tony Martin and Richie Porte, and pursuit gold medalist Bradley Wiggins.

Martin goes in to the event as the outright favourite after taking out the World Championships in Copenhagen in September, and both time trials of this year’s Tour de France.

The Tour meanwhile remains Contador’s main goal for next season, with the Spaniard re-affirming his commitment to sacrificing a chance to defend his Giro crown in a bid to go for the Giro-Tour double.

“It’s the kind of challenge that I say why not to?” Contador said. “To me it’s an opportunity that I really want to pursue. If I’m still going well [after the Tour], I’ll give it a really good shot.”

Tags: Alberto Contador, Bradley Wiggins, London Olympic games, Richie Porte, Tony Martin, Tour de France

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Seven people linked to Operation Puerto doping scandal of cycling would face trial in Spain, facing nearly two years in prison.

Sports doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, former Liberty Seguros team boss Manolo Saiz and five others arrested in 2006 on suspicion to offer doping services to cyclists will be tried, Madrid’s Superior Court said in a statement.

From Mercurynews.com:

Puerto implicated more than 50 cyclists—including three-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador, Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich and Alejandro Valverde—in the use of performance-enhancing substances or practices. Spanish sports bodies could not use evidence to ban athletes because of Spanish law, which has since changed.

The accused, who also stand to lose their professional licenses, are charged with endangering athletes’ health in their handling of blood samples because they cannot be retroactively charged for a doping crime.

Cycling’s biggest doping scandal has impacted Spain’s reputation against doping because a Madrid judge twice shelved the case.

In May 2006, bags of blood, blood transfusion equipment, and anabolic steroids were found by Spanish authorities from raids in Zaragoza and Madrid.

Tags: Alberto Contador, Alejandro Valverde, anabolic steroids, cycling, doping scandal, Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich, Operation Puerto, Tour de France

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Alberto Contador‘s case that supposedly began with the cyclist eating some prime beefsteak on the second rest day of the 2010 Tour de France would start to draw to a close for four days, from November 21-24 at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.

Contador tested positive for banned substance clenbuterol was cleared by his federation of doping but his sporting future is subjected to an appeal by WADA and the UCI.

From Cyclingweekly.co.uk:

Contador claims that his positive – for a tiny amount of clenbuterol, but a positive nonetheless for a banned substance for which he could face up to a two-year ban – was due to eating a contaminated beefsteak, brought to him by friend Jose Luis Lopez Cerron from Spain as a special treat, on the 2010 Tour’s second rest day.

The case broke in late September last year, when an ashen-faced Contador insisted in a packed news conference that he was innocent. After a six-month period in which the case shuffled back and forth at a snail’s pace between the UCI’s offices and Spain, despite a recommendation to the contrary his Federation’s verdict was: Contador was innocent.

The triple Tour winner himself is on his honeymoon in the Caribbean and not expected to return to Europe until later this week after his recent wedding to long-standing girlfriend, Macarena Pescador.

Tags: Alberto Contador, clenbuterol, doping, Tour de France, WADA

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The doping case of Alberto Contador from the 2010 Tour de France was postponed Tuesday from next week to what may be late fall.

The postponement means dragging out a matter that is more than a year old and prolonging an awkward issue for cycling.

From NYTimes.com:

The Court of Arbitration for Sport announced that Contador’s final hearing about his positive test for the banned drug clenbuterol will not happen Aug. 1 to 3, as planned. It will occur “probably in November,” the court said in a statement, to allow the parties to submit further written documents that would “complete their evidence and arguments relating to some specific scientific issues.”

The court said the World Anti-Doping Agency made the request to postpone the hearing, which had been postponed from June, and all parties agreed to it.

The three-time Tour winner claimed that he tested positive because he ate contaminated beef from Spain.

Tags: Alberto Contador, clenbuterol, cycling, doping, Tour de France

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Tour de France title defense for Alberto Contador, who was accused of using clenbuterol in the past, started in the worst possible manner.

Contador lost one minute 20 seconds to the other favorites after being held back by a crash nine kilometers from the finish of the 191.5-km first stage.

From Reuters.com:

The stage win and the first leader’s yellow jersey in this 98th edition of the race went to Belgian champion Philippe Gilbert, who surged ahead in the last 400 meters to snatch his 13th victory of the season.

Recently crowned Belgian champion and number one in the world rankings, Gilbert grabbed more honors with his first Tour stage win and his first yellow jersey.

On the finish line, Gilbert beat the last two road world champions – Australian Cadel Evans, who finished three seconds adrift and Norway’s Thor Hushovd, who came home six seconds behind.

Gilbert, who had shunned the Tour in the last two seasons, said, “It was my goal, I knew I had a great opportunity to win the stage and take the yellow jersey, which I had never done before.”

Tags: Alberto Contador, Cadel Evans, clenbuterol, Philippe Gilbert, Thor Hushovd, Tour de France

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Alberto Contador of Spain won back affection of fans despite losing his invincibility on grand Tours.

The cyclist was previously booed by fans at the start of the Tour de France.

From Reuters.com:

Contador’s immediate future is under a cloud though with the looming doping hearing.

He failed a test for the banned anabolic agent clenbuterol last July but he was cleared by the Spanish federation, only for the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to appeal before CAS.

The hearing is set for August 1-3, with a final decision expected before the end of next month.

“As far as my future is concerned, all I want is a good rest,” he said.

“All in all I had a great season. People focus on the Tour de France but we have to take into account the rest of the season,” he said. “I’m delighted with my season.”

Tags: Alberto Contador, anabolic agent, clenbuterol, doping, Tour de France, WADA

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Russian Cyclist Alexandr Kolobnev has tested positive for Hydrochlorothiazide, a banned diuretic at the Tour de France.

The positive dope result may have a big impact on the world of cycling even though Kolobnev was virtually a non-factor in this race.

From Bleacherreport.com:

In cycling, PEDs can help to alter many factors that could lead to greater endurance, giving cyclists an edge over their competition.

Lance Armstrong has been under fire, as he himself is being accused of taking performance enhancing drugs.

Many people probably don’t associate cyclists with performance enhancing drugs because cyclists don’t have the build of someone who is using steroids to bulk up.

Even so, there are many different types of PEDs. the diuretic Kolobnev tested positive for is said to decrease the amount of water in the kidneys and decrease blood return in the heart, which makes for less cardio output.

Hydrochlorothiazide is not exactly an anabolic steroid, but it still provides an unfair advantage.

Tags: Alexandr Kolobnev, anabolic steroid, cycling, diuretic, Hydrochlorothiazide, Lance Armstrong, Performance enhancing drugs, Tour de France

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Willy Voet, the man whose arrest lifted the lid on drug use in cycling, has alleged that the total amount spent by the Festina squad on performance enhancing drugs each season was more than £60,000.

Voet also claimed that some members of the Festina team took dozens of ampules of growth hormones each season.

From Independent.ie:

And he said that 80 per cent of Festina riders, including Pascal Herve and Richard Virenque, asked for and took doping products. When asked to name the biggest users Voet replied: “Pascal Herve. Richard Virenque wasn’t bad either.”

Both have denied ever using banned substances since the furore broke during the Tour de France.

Virenque, a four-time winner of the Tour de France King of the Mountains title, said that if he had taken drugs it had been without his knowledge, while Herve has said he was constantly misled by team doctors.

Voet, who was arrested after customs officials discovered hundreds of ampules of performance-enhancing drugs in his Festina team car four days before the start of this year’s Tour de France, also revealed that several riders had been taking a `revolutionary’ drug since 1997.

Voet said, “It came from Portugal and belonged to the anabolic steroid group which helped build up the muscles in spectacular fashion and became undetectable after just seven days.”

Tags: anabolic steroid, doping, drug use in cycling, Festina, growth hormones, Pascal Herve, Performance enhancing drugs, Richard Virenque, Tour de France, Willy Voet

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The Tour de France drugs scandal took a fresh twist when the masseur arrested claimed he was acting under orders from the Festina team.

Willy Voet alleges the drugs found in his car near the Belgian-French border were in fact destined for the Festina team for its own consumption, as per judicial sources.

From Independent.ie:

Voet originally told police that the haul comprising anabolic steroids, growth hormones and masking agents found in the Festina car he was driving to the Tour start in Dublin was for his own use.

The 53-year-old Belgian is being held in a prison in Loos, near Lille. He appeared before magistrates’ on Friday charged with the illegal importing and trafficking of drugs.

The Festina team, however, has strongly denied any wrongdoing and team chief Bruno Roussel said he was “stunned” by the reports linking the team to the arrest.

“The management of the Festina team formally denies asking one of its masseurs to obtain substances, the use of which is prohibited by law or by the rules of the Tour de France,” the team said in a statement yesterday.

Bo Hamburger of Denmark took possession of the leader’s yellow jersey in Lorient, while Germany’s Jens Heppner spoilt a Bastille Day victory for France’s Xavier Jan by winning the 169 kilometre third stage as the drug issue intensified.

Tags: anabolic steroids, Festina, growth hormones, masking agents, Tour de France, Willy Voet

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