Strasbourg, France – The 93rd Tour de France begins Saturday, and the only debate bigger than who is the favorite is who will even be in the race.
A Spanish-based doping scandal, dubbed Operacion Puerto, has spread to 58 riders, including co-favorites Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich, with reports that the International Cycling Union (UCI) wants all implicated riders tossed from the Tour.
The cyclists won a victory Thursday when the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, turned down the Tour’s request to toss out Astana-Wurth, the Spanish team at the heart of the investigation. What happens to other cyclists has left everyone confused if not worried.
“We haven’t heard anything,” said Bjarne Riis, team director of Denmark-based CSC, for which Basso rides. “I don’t know what to say.”
El Pais, Spain’s leading daily newspaper, first reported Sunday and Monday that 58 cyclists were implicated in a Spanish doping investigation. The newspaper listed such top riders as Roberto Heras, Oscar Sevilla, Joseba Beloki and Santiago Botero, all Spaniards. Also listed were Boulder’s Tyler Hamilton, who’s already serving a two-year suspension, and Ullrich.
On Thursday, the Madrid-based Cadena SER radio station reported Basso’s name is also on the list.
According to El Pais, Jaime Lissavetsky, Spain’s secretary of state for sport, will fly to Strasbourg today with a 500-page report that he’ll discuss with France’s sports minister, Jean-Francois Lamour.
The cyclists are being charged for crimes against public health. Spain’s new anti-doping law was voted on and approved Thursday but does not take effect until November.
Cyclingnews.com reported that UCI president Pat McQuaid “strongly recommended” all riders sign a statement saying they are not connected to the doping scandal.
If they refuse, they would be replaced on the team. If it’s later discovered they lied, they immediately would be removed from the race.
No action has been taken and Thursday’s CAS ruling may give an indication of what is ahead. Without stronger evidence, the peloton should be safe.
No cyclist has been charged.
The figures in the center of the investigation remain sports doctor Eufemiano Fuentes; hematologist José Luis Merino Batres; Ignacio Labarta, sports director of Tour entry Comunidad Valenciana; Manolo Saiz, former team manager of Liberty Seruros, Astana-Wurth’s predecessor; and former mountain biker Alberto Leon.
This is the biggest doping scandal to hit the Tour since 1998 when police raided the hotel of Festina, the Italian team that was expelled from the race after 400 vials of performance-enhancing drugs were found in a team car.
In protest, the rest of the peloton delayed the start of one stage, was uniformly slow in another and also removed bibs and linked arms while crossing a finish line. Race officials canceled one stage and invalidated a second.
Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at 303-820-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
