26 juin 2006

Edited by Jeff Jones,
with assistance from Susan Westemeyer

Hamilton and Ullrich linked to Operación Puerto
Spanish newspaper El Pais has published its next two articles in relation to the 'Operación Puerto' affair, which has implicated 58 people in the world of cycling, including several members of the newly renamed Astana-Wurth team. El Pais is considered one of the top newspapers in the country, and Cyclingnews understands that it is in possession of the full 'Operación Puerto' dossier.

Although it is not known whether the Spanish courts will announce anything officially before the Tour de France, the information that has been leaked will likely put pressure on the UCI and ASO to reconsider Astana-Würth's invitation. ASO has already refused the right of Comunidad Valenciana to race the Tour, and the Spanish teams have been up in arms at what they claim is "orchestrated harassment" after the publication of confidential 'Operación Puerto' files.

Tyler Hamilton revisited
El Pais turned its attention away from Spanish cyclists in its first big article on Monday, "The transfusions and the dollars of Tyler Hamilton". In September 2004, Hamilton tested positive for a homologous blood transfusion after winning the time trial at the Vuelta a España. He also returned a positive A sample for a homologous transfusion after winning the Olympic games time trial a month previously in August. His B sample was inadvertently frozen, and no result could be determined from it. Although he is still in possession of his Olympic gold medal, he was stripped of his Vuelta stage win and suspended until September 22, 2006, despite appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

According to El Pais, the documents seized by the Spanish civil guard during Operacion Puerto show that Hamilton was not as innocent as he claimed. It's alleged that he not only received blood transfusions, but also a full doping program involving EPO, anabolics, growth hormone and IGF-1.

The paper claims that among the files of Dr Eufemiano Fuentes and Jose Merino Batres, are some details of Hamilton's financial dealings in 2002 and 2003, including a copy of a fax sent to his wife Haven to a hotel in Gerona, where he lived. On the fax, it's shown that he had paid €31,200 with €11,840 still owing: €35,000 was for the medical program, and €8,040 was for the medication.

The doctors' files allegedly consisted of two pages. In the first, a calendar of the racing season is laid out from November to October, with the races that the rider wanted to do well in being marked along with the medication that he should take. The markings were in the so-called "Sanskrit of Eufemiano", a notation system of substances, doses, and procedures. Before the 2003 season, Dr Fuentes indicated that Hamilton should start taking EPO from December 21, with 2000 units daily, up until Christmas Eve, and then on alternate days until January 9. On the 14th of January, before his first training camp with CSC, he was instructed to withdraw blood. On January 24, he was to start with anabolics. In March, after racing had started, he was to take HMG - a hormone used by menopausal women - to mask the anabolics, as well as taking growth hormone and insulin.

The second page of the file allegedly showed that he won Liège-Bastogne-Liège six days after a double transfusion of blood, won the Tour de Romandie shortly afterwards, and prepared for the Tour by not racing in May and taking anabolics and EPO. He then raced only the Dauphiné Libéré in June - completely anonymously, and didn't even start the final stage. At the time, he claimed to be suffering from stomach problems all week, but El Pais alleged that according to Dr Fuentes files, it was during another period of blood extraction. In the final lead up to the Tour, he was to take more growth hormone and re-infuse the blood, as well as doing so on the first rest day of the race.

Ullrich : the 'son of Rudy' ?
In the second El Pais article, "The blood of the 'son of Rudicio'", it's alleged that Jan Ullrich and several others were among those earmarked for a blood transfusion. On May 23, when Jose Luis Merino Batres was arrested, he was carrying an accounts receivable book, which had the following written in the back of it :
1 - Hijo Rudicio. 2 - Birillo. 4 - Nicolas. 5 - Sevillano. 6 - Sancti Petri. 12 - Guti. 13 - Serrano (alcalde). 14 - RH. 16 - Vicioso. 17 - Porras. 19 - Oso. 20 - Bella (Jörg). 24 - Clasicómano (Luigi). 25 - Amigo de Birillo. 26-Huerta. 32 - Zapatero. 33 - Clasicómano.

The numbers corresponded to those on the blood bags that were seized from the apartment in Madrid, and the names were allegedly the nicknames of the athletes who owned the blood. Although some were obvious, it was speculated that the 'Hijo Rudicio', or 'son of Rudicio' referred to Jan Ullrich as the 'son' of Rudy Pevenage, Ullrich's long time mentor.

Furthermore, in a page of notes referring to the contents of one of the fridges dated June 26, 2004, it's recorded that on the top level of the refrigerator, there were three units of blood with JAN printed on them. A similar survey taken on May 15, 2006, showed six bags marked with number 1 [corresponding to 'Hijo Rudicio'], two dated 18/09/05, two dated 29/05/05, another dated 22/12/05, and one dated 20/02/06.

According to the doctors' the desk planner, number 1 had three units of blood and half of 'siberias' (frozen red cells) re-infused on May 1, which corresponded to five days before the Giro d'Italia. The next transfusion for number 1 was due on June 20, 10 days before the start of the Tour. That would have involved the removal of two units of blood and the re-infusion of two 'siberias'.

The Ullrich link is still clearly speculative, and T-Mobile's spokesman Luuc Eisenga told Cyclingnews today, "Obviously those accusations are very strong. It's difficult to react to articles in newspapers and therefore we insist on seeing the official documents in the case before we issue any further comment."

"I have nothing to do with this situation," said Ullrich in a statement on the team's website. Rudy Pevenage commented, "There is nothing to these charges."

page mise en archives par SVP

Consultez notre ENCYCLOPÉDIE sportive