Valverde summoned by CONI

iainf72

Kléber wrote:

CONI are saying they have "another 90 bags of blood and not just those of cyclists", so expect some sudden withdrawals from tennis tournaments, new injuries for footballers and others...

Ettore Torri looks like he should have a freedom pass but the man is a legend.

DavMartinR

Dave_1 wrote:

calvjones wrote:

Agree with Dave - as long as the blood is old (Kelme days) & he can claim he's been clean since joining Caisse.

Or he can claim Sainz/Fuentes kept him as an individual client post-Kelme & keep the team out of it..

yeah, he's not built on the 03 Vuelta form beyond the 05 TDF win at courchevel...his 07 TDF looked clean to me and his 08 TDF...strong but some off days. Kelme were a total doping outfit so, if Valv was there at 21-22. I think he will admit to something but deny doping since 03. I see he has the Caisse director escorting him to Italy today

Can they test how old the blood is? If there is no label with a date attached to it?

afx237vi

Kléber wrote:

CONI are saying they have "another 90 bags of blood and not just those of cyclists", so expect some sudden withdrawals from tennis tournaments, new injuries for footballers and others...

But for that to happen, the other sports in question would need to do blood testing as part of their anti-doping programme. Don't most other sports just do old school urine testing... you know, 'cos they don't have a doping problem.

Kléber

They will have other evidence. Code names and details of money transfers too. Not to say anyone will be caught but CONI could insist on blood checks when visiting athletes come to Italy.

JC.152

Kléber wrote:

CONI are saying they have "another 90 bags of blood and not just those of cyclists", so expect some sudden withdrawals from tennis tournaments, new injuries for footballers and others...

i hope they do something with them could they match any with Olmypic blood sampples from 08 if they were taken cos football and tennis are both in the olympics

but of course everyone knows tennis/footballs clean so there is definately no point in checking becuase they are so clean that any tests wouldn't be worth it :roll: or against human rights thats always a good one

neilfitton

I am assuming that if CONI have stated that the blood in the bags matches via DNA Valverde then they MUST have the proof, if this is the case then why can't these riders admit to their guilt and then use it as a way to go forward.
Millar at least has moved forward (he should have been more open though) and Zabel (only really admitted after he knew that he was about to be found out), I find it sad that these riders still end up with the punishment they would receive anyway but plead innocence like Hamilton and Landis, this will never clean up the sport.

Frankly I'm sick of all of these rides and have no trust for pretty much any of them anymore, that said we still expect them to achieve superhuman feats of punishing endurance and do it day in day out and often get payed pretty low wages in comparison to many other sports (£150k a WEEK !!!) they need to blow open Puerto and prove that we aren't the only sport with problems !!!!

flattythehurdler

What I want to know is why his codename was so utterly transparent. Even "birillo" seems the essence of security compared to valv.piti.
Did fuentes want him to get caught?
I blame an american conspiracy fronted by the CIA and headed by Lance to discredit the paella eating surrender monkeys.

drenkrom

Valverde is confident that the investigation will prove his innocence

...

Will someone please give the man a rudimentary biology lesson, talking reaaaaaally slowly in the part about DNA. Even if he avoids suspension somehow, I can't see too many race organizers clamoring for his presence in their event. I can see ASO watching this go along from the wings.

campagchris

Heres what his ex team mate thinks,from cyclingnews:


Jesús Manzano, ex-cyclist and former teammate of Alejandro Valverde with Kelme in 2002 and 2003, gave an interview to the Spanish newspaper AS, in which he talked about the Operación Puerto, organized doping within his team and Alejandro Valverde. Spanish cyclist Valverde is in the subject of a criminal investigation by with the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI), which is investigating his alleged ties to the Puerto affair.


Manzano expressed his irritation about the practices of the Spanish authorities. "In Italy, things are done with persistence; meanwhile in Spain, they are left unfinished. Here (in Spain), the judge did not ask for the comparison of DNA (of Valverde with the blood bag number 18). There (in Italy) they did, and everything has moved forward. But here, we have a judge who opened and closed the case several times. It has brought no information, it is a circus."

Asked if there was organized doping in his Kelme team, Manzano answered, "Prior to the Vuelta [a España] in 2003, we had a training camp in Alcalá de la Selva. And everybody – except one who was doubtful- went to the hospital of Merino Bates. Let's see if now people think that I was the only rider to take something."

According to AS, the Kelme riders who participated in that edition of the Vuelta a España were Óscar Sevilla, Alejandro Valverde, Carlos García Quesada, José Enrique Gutiérrez, David Latasa, Toni Tauler, Constantino Zaballa, Francisco Cabello and Manzano.

"They gave the same things to Valverde as to me," said Manzano, who made similar claims in June of 2007. "When we shared a room and they gave me something, then they gave him, too. And if I had to go to a judge to swear this under oath, I would do so. Let's see if a judge will call me."

"In the team, there was organised doping, and when they gave something to me, then [they gave] even more to the leaders."

Manzano is unhappy about the Spanish attitude toward riders linked to Operación Puerto. "There are some involved people who now are riding in second tier teams and who go on with the same habits, but different doctors." The ex-rider lamented that the top riders are protected by the Spanish authorities.

"Is there nobody whose attention was attracted by this 'Valv.Piti'? In Italy, if they have to punish [Ivan] Basso, they punish Basso. Here, if a top rider is of concern, they protect him," said Manzano.

maybe things changed after 2003 :roll:

andyrac

Please forgive me, as a newbie I don't know everything about this case - however, What are the Spanish authorities playing at? As well as cyclists, there were Footballers and Tennis players, but weren't named - how predictable. My respect for Spanish sport is zero, I'd rather they name and shame - rather than cover everything up - and hope it goes away. Sorry to use a pun, but it makes my blood boil - if Valverde is guilty and the DNA proves it - ban him. End of. Simple - except we know it isn't.
Can't the UCI grow some balls and just take action against the Spanish cycling federation?

finchy

AndyRAC wrote:

Please forgive me, as a newbie I don't know everything about this case - however, What are the Spanish authorities playing at? As well as cyclists, there were Footballers and Tennis players, but weren't named - how predictable. My respect for Spanish sport is zero, I'd rather they name and shame - rather than cover everything up - and hope it goes away. Sorry to use a pun, but it makes my blood boil - if Valverde is guilty and the DNA proves it - ban him. End of. Simple - except we know it isn't.
Can't the UCI grow some balls and just take action against the Spanish cycling federation?

At the time of Puerto, doping wasn't illegal in Spain, but after the first judge dismissed the case, another re-opened it under health protection laws - cunning, eh?

The Spanish authorities don't really want their biggest stars exposed as cheats.

le_patron

very amusing Blazin' Saddles article, 'amigo di Dogmatix'