24 Feb, 2016 @ 11:00
1 min read

OPINION: The doping cycle of shame

Cycling Doctor Fuentes
FUENTES: Shamed doctor was banned for a year
FUENTES:  Shamed doctor was banned for a year
FUENTES: Shamed doctor was banned for a year

DOPING’S dark cloud has swirled around cycling for decades.

In the early days of the Tour de France, riders steeled themselves with cocaine, heroin and strychnine before attempting monstrously long routes.

Modern-day riders adopted slightly more refined techniques, with EPO the favoured doping brand of choice. As always, it’s the sporting public who are cheated most.

So the decision of a Spanish judge in 2013 to destroy more than 200 vials of athletes’ blood seized from the notorious Dr Fuentes defied belief.

It wasn’t just cyclists caught up in Operation Puerto’s net. Whistleblower Jesus Manzano claimed to see well-known Spanish and Brazilian footballers visiting Fuentes.

Thankfully, the undestroyed blood samples remain in a Barcelona lab pending a Madrid Provincial Court decision. Who knows what, or who, they could reveal. They are a sporting time bomb the public deserves to see explode.

Iona Napier

DO YOU HAVE NEWS FOR US at Spain’s most popular English newspaper - the Olive Press? Contact us now via email: newsdesk@theolivepress.es or call 951 273 575. To contact the newsdesk out of regular office hours please call +34 665 798 618.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

chris ben shephard
Previous Story

TV game show Tipping Point is turning point for move to Spain

Albert Rivera
Next Story

Ciudadanos agree to support PSOE leader Pedro Sanchez’s PM bid

Latest from Opinion

Go toTop