A doping scandal that has ripped apart the Liberty Seguros pro cycling team could leave scores of cyclists' careers in a shambles.
The Associated Press reports that Spanish investigators have found a list with more than 100 names of cyclists who received services from sports physicians who have been arrested in the doping round-up.
A Spanish police spokesman is neither confirming nor denying the allegations reported in the newspaper El Pais that the lists exist. He did say police have film of athletes arriving at a Madrid apartment building for blood-doping or performance-enhancing drugs.
“They are high-level athletes. The lesser ones don't do this because it is expensive,” Gallego told The Associated Press in a telephone interview, adding the probe continues and more arrests are possible.
So far, cycling team director Manolo Saiz has been arrested, as have sports physicians Eufemiano Fuentes and Jose Merino Batres. Also under arrest are Jose Ignacio Labarta, deputy director of Comunidad Valenciana and former mountain bike racer Alberto Leon Herranz, the AP reports.
Recent developments:
— Liberty Seguros (Boston-based Liberty Mutual in the US) pulled its sponsorship from the team, costing it $10.2 million. The relationship already was made tenuous by Roberto Heras's 2-year banishment from cycling for testing positive for EPO. Says Liberty Seguros (from CNN):
“We have cancelled our agreement with the owners of the team (Active Bay) and will respect outstanding financial obligations.”
— The team still has five cyclists competing in the Giro d'Italia; one, Giampaolo Caruso is in 13th place (Giro results from CyclingNews);
— A Tour de France favorite on the team, Alexandre Vinokourov, says he'll compete in July “one way or another (VeloNews).” It will probably have to be “another.”
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