Fuentes history

Wow. Excellent resume reproduction Bro. This covert work is having some positive results. I didn't realize the extent of his tenticles. And his influence in the 1992 Olympics, where Spain really punched above their weight.

There's a lesson in here. Get enough evidence on other people up your sleeve. People of influence with something to lose. And let them know that if you go down or you die, the evidence is going to get revealed. The key is the second bit (safe deposit box + note in will) or you get popped.

Crankyfeet said:

Wow. Excellent resume reproduction Bro. This covert work is having some positive results. I didn't realize the extent of his tentacles.

Tentacles? Let's just hope he doesn't meet any Japanese schoolgirls.

Bro Deal said:

Tentacles? Let's just hope he doesn't meet any Japanese schoolgirls.

Sorry, that was a typo. It was supposed to be "testicles".:p

Bro Deal said:

2006
Operation Puerto hits the airwaves. Initial reports suggest that at least two hundred athletes are involved in the doping network - not only Cyclists, but also Basketball (Spain is defending World Champions and was runner-up in the 2007 Euro Championship), Football, athletics, and tennis players. This was initially confirmed by Fuentes in interviews, though he subsequently shut up.

In December, Le Monde publishes an article based on papers showing that Barcelona (winner of the Champions League 2005), Real Madrid, Valencia, and Betis were all clients of Fuentes. That basically takes care of all the top Football teams in Spain. Fuentes latter denied the rumors.

2007
The case against Eufemiano Fuentes is shelved by the Spanish courts. Latter this year, Fuentes is a speaker at a seminar organized by the Spanish Sports federation on the subject of doping.

The Guardia Civil has persistently been refused access to several harddisks seized from Eufemiano Fuentes and his partners. Why? The judge has dictated that they are not a part of the investigation. At the same time, funds to the investigation by the Guardia Civil have been cut off.

Now why would "someone" not want Fuentes brought to justice? Apart from the impact a full disclosure of Fuentes network could have (if even half of what is alleged is true), one may discern other reasons.

Back in 2006, the Guardia Civil raided Fuentes apartments in Spain... but they failed to raid one location: Fuentes apartments in Gran Canaria - his primary office. As a result, the Guardia Civil seized only a fraction of Fuentes customer sheets. No doubt, Fuentes has made sure those papers are now in a very, very safe place... to be released in their entirety to interested media outlets if Fuentes is ever convicted in a trial.

It was no leak in the Spanish Law Enforcement services that allowed Le Monde access to papers indicating doping in Spanish football last year. The Guardia Civil had never seized those particular papers - Le Monde received it from Fuentes himself. I suspect that someone got the message loud and clear...

It was in the same interview, incidentally, that Eufemanio Fuentes replied to a question about his connection with Barcelona and Real Madrid saying:

"I cannot answer that. I have received death threats. I was told that if I revealed certain things, I or my family could have serious problems. I was threatened three times, and I won't be threatened a fourth time."

Excellent post, BD : if what is reported is true, then there are far bigger sports/clubs/individuals in other sports, compared to cycling, working with Fuentes.
If Barca are involved as is alleged - then cycling and cyclists working with Fuentes are very small fry in comparison.
Not that this exonerate cycling : it proves that cycling and other sports are tainted.

I can't blame Fuentes for not talking - if what is reported is true, Fuentes clients are hugely powerful organisations and Fuentes would be compromising
some very powerful forces.

What I find interesting is that its absurd that the UCI didn't know about Fuentes and that they threatened to sue Manzano when he came out with his story...... now the sport has gone in the other direction and a guy like Allan Davis is going to sue the UCI for restraint of trade.... poor [censored] cant get a contract.....

I found that pretty interesting, first indication I've seen of pre-EPO era blood doping in cycling, other than Moser's hour record and the '84 US Olympic team. Anything posted by Noticias over on DP is good, most of the rest is pretty pointless arguing.

Wayne666 said:

I found that pretty interesting, first indication I've seen of pre-EPO era blood doping in cycling, other than Moser's hour record and the '84 US Olympic team.

Exactly. That 1991 date for transfusions in the Vuelta is very interesting. I have been assuming that riders began using Conconi's recipe for EPO use starting with 1990, which would obviate the need for transfusions. It begs the question of when did Fuentes start with transfusions.

Bro Deal said:

Exactly. That 1991 date for transfusions in the Vuelta is very interesting. I have been assuming that riders began using Conconi's recipe for EPO use starting with 1990, which would obviate the need for transfusions. It begs the question of when did Fuentes start with transfusions.

I know EPO was available by the very end of the 80s and I've read about Conconi's magic formula, but it seems pretty clear that the arms race in cycling was in it's infancy at that time. Most riders/teams were slow to get stuck in. Otherwise there is no explanation for the Gewiss/Ferrari trouncing of everyone in the spring of '94 and the general alarm this sent out to the cycling world.

The other link to the excellent Virenque story speaks to this situation as well:
"Roussel said that the team’s doping programme was put in place in 1993, when products were rushed to the Tour from Spain but too late to make a difference."

It's also interesting to note that Indurain is linked to Conconi (taken to the Ferrara institute by Unzue very early on and may have also been using EPO before everyone else was (Giro/Tour doubles in '92,'93) . His Tour wins ('91-95) span the time when doping became obligatory.

whiteboytrash said:

What I find interesting is that its absurd that the UCI didn't know about Fuentes and that they threatened to sue Manzano when he came out with his story...... now the sport has gone in the other direction and a guy like Allan Davis is going to sue the UCI for restraint of trade.... poor [censored] cant get a contract.....

The hard thing about this post is.. its nothing new. Hard because except of Lemonde no-one of the 'big' media published it.

But WBT, who said the UCI didn't know?

The Finnish distance runner Lasse Viren was reputedly using primitive blood doping techniques at the 1972 O's and was definitely using it at Montreal 4 years later. I was aware of it at the time so I imagine that Fuentes, with his athletics involvement, also knew what was going on. It is quite feasible that he might made further proactive inquiries after he graduated and was starting his involvement with coaching.

Gregers said:

The Finnish distance runner Lasse Viren was reputedly using primitive blood doping techniques at the 1972 O's and was definitely using it at Montreal 4 years later. I was aware of it at the time so I imagine that Fuentes, with his athletics involvement, also knew what was going on. It is quite feasible that he might made further proactive inquiries after he graduated and was starting his involvement with coaching.

There is no doubt blood doping has a long history and that theoretically it was possible that it was occuring in cycling but for the most part it doesn't seem to have been the case until WADA/UCI put the clamps on EPO use in the late 90s. I think most likely the doping was unsophisticated until EPO and then when everyone realized that there was a drug that really mattered and how it worked, they still needed their fix once it's use became limited so the more well to do teams/riders turned to blood doping.

Wayne666 said:

There is no doubt blood doping has a long history and that theoretically it was possible that it was occuring in cycling but for the most part it doesn't seem to have been the case until WADA/UCI put the clamps on EPO use in the late 90s. I think most likely the doping was unsophisticated until EPO and then when everyone realized that there was a drug that really mattered and how it worked, they still needed their fix once it's use became limited so the more well to do teams/riders turned to blood doping.

There are reports Anquetil blood doped. There was interview with Moser in 1999.

"They had experience. Conconi has worked with various sports like canoers, athletes and cyclists. I was not the only one nor the first who used blood transfusions to improve my performance. I was told that Jacques Anquetil had done it and that was well before my time."

He did not think he was breaching any rules. He said: "The method was being used everywhere. Sportspeople are always open to scrutiny but we should take a look at what normal people have in their medicine chest. It is simply life."

Moser retired about 1984.

snood said:

Moser retired about 1984.

Moser broke the hour record in 1984.

[img]lequipe.frmoser 230184.jpgOpen ↗[/img]

Ten years later he set the "veterans" hour record, which was faster than his record of ten years earlier. I also seem to recall him and Dr. Conconi making an attempt to better his 1994 record in the late 80s when Conconi was doing his research with EPO.

snood said:

There are reports Anquetil blood doped. There was interview with Moser in 1999.

"They had experience. Conconi has worked with various sports like canoers, athletes and cyclists. I was not the only one nor the first who used blood transfusions to improve my performance. I was told that Jacques Anquetil had done it and that was well before my time."

He did not think he was breaching any rules. He said: "The method was being used everywhere. Sportspeople are always open to scrutiny but we should take a look at what normal people have in their medicine chest. It is simply life."

Moser retired about 1984.

I know it is well established that Moser blood-doped for his hour record but beyond that? Any other riders?

snood said:

There are reports Anquetil blood doped.

For blood doping it's there is important to have a lot of material which where not common by the past. Anquetil began his pro career in 1953, he won this year the Grand Prix des Nations ... He won TDF in 57, 61,62, 63 and 64. He finished his career in 1969. I could believe that he could have try some sort of blood doping at the end because of Viren's results at 1972 Munich JO. It would be find to seek the first studies of Dr. Ekblom who was the responsible of Lasse blood "doping". At this time it was not banned to use "fresh blood".

Gregers said:

The Finnish distance runner Lasse Viren was reputedly using primitive blood doping techniques at the 1972 O's and was definitely using it at Montreal 4 years later. I was aware of it at the time so I imagine that Fuentes, with his athletics involvement, also knew what was going on. It is quite feasible that he might made further proactive inquiries after he graduated and was starting his involvement with coaching.

I know a bloke (cyclist) who blood doped in the 70's. Reckons he's never gone faster.

There was definitely blood doping around in the 70's and it wasn't banned until after the 84 Olympic Games. It was always looked at as being unethical, but wasn't illegal. I can't remember for sure but it was either the LA Times or Rolling Stone that broke the 84 US cycling team blood doping story. BTW, a couple of the US riders got sick from it.

If you use Finnish athletics as a guide they had generally been pretty poor until 1971 when Vaatainen got their breakthrough 5/1000m double at the Europeans. Viren and Pekka Vasala then somewhat unexpectedly carried all before them at Munich.in '72. I think that gives a pretty big clue. Although this is where it first came to prominence, I don't think that they were the first Finnish blood dopers. If I recall correctly it was originally being experimented on by, interestingly, Orienteers and also the X country skiers towards the end of the sixties. It was not even particularly clandestine-being organised by doctors affiliated to various Finnish sporting bodies.
From there it was taken up and refined by Soviet sports programmes. The mystery is why it seems to have taken until 1984-when Ed Burke made his proposal- for cyclists to take advantage of a reasonably proven, albeit primitive, technique.

classic1 said:

I know a bloke (cyclist) who blood doped in the 70's. Reckons he's never gone faster.

Who did the procedure? Was it a national organization, university researchers, private doctor in employ of the cyclists, etc.?