Certain former professional cyclists were at the centre of a doping network in which illegal substances were supplied to amateur and aspiring athletes in Spain, according to a special report by El Español. The Spanish newspaper gained access to an investigation led by the anti-doping arm of the national police force, which has been dubbed ‘Operación Astur’.
A number of seemingly isolated arrests were made last year, including that of Alexis Rodriguez, who used to ride for the Kelme team and was initially caught up in a doping raid at the 2001 Giro d’Italia. At his home police found anabolic steroids, growth hormone and EPO, as well as bags and canulas for blood transfusions, and a machine to measure hematocrit levels.
According to the investigation, the Spaniard - on the face of it - offered massage and coaching services to amateur athletes and cyclists, while also selling them performance-enhancing substances and, in some cases, administering those substances himself there and then.
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Operacion Astur places Rodriguez as one cog in a wider doping ring, which saw the distribution of banned substances to various non-professional sportspeople in Spain - both amateur athletes and those aspiring to the professional ranks - across sports such as cycling, triathlon, and fustal.
“Rodríguez is only the first thread that investigators pulled at, unraveling a network in which a group of ex-cyclists (two of them professionals) and ex-athletes dedicated themselves to the buying, selling, and administering of doping products to tens of semi-professional sportspeople in the provinces of Salamanca, Lugo and Alicante," read El Español's report.
According to the investigation, the supplier through which Rodríguez obtained his products was fellow ex-cyclist and former teammate at Supermercados Froiz-Cabreiroá, Rafael Rodríguez Segarra. The Spaniard had won the Vuelta a Alicante in 2007 and ridden for the Pro Continental-level Contentpolis-Murcia team.
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