Lessons learned from a decade of Operación Puerto
The Operación Puerto case broke in the month leading up to the 2006 Tour de France with Liberty Seguros manager Manolo Saiz the first name to hit the headlines when he was arrested outside a Madrid clinic while carrying large sums of cash. A new name suddenly arose from the chatter, that of Eufemiano Fuentes. The Spaniard would eventually be outed as a major player in helping cyclists to blood dope, and was convicted on charges of crimes against public health seven years later.
Operación Puerto was as significant, if not more so, than the 1998 Festina Affair, in that it uncovered a pervasive culture of sophisticated doping going on in professional cycling, one that would only be fully revealed when the USAnti-Doping Agency looked into Lance Armstrong and the USPostalService team.Only a few athletes have been punished in the Puerto case, even though Fuentes had dozens of clients.
ADVERTISEMENT
June 14, 2016 marked an important date in the course of the whole affair as a judge in Spain ruled that the 211 blood bags relating to the scandal would not, as had previously been ruled, be destroyed. They are to be handed over to the authorities, including the UCI and WADA, to be analysed with the possible identification of who they belonged to, though sanctions are highly unlikely given the ten-year statute of limitations in the WADA code.
2006
May 23, 2006: Liberty Seguros director Manolo Saiz arrested on doping charges
May 24, 2006: Spanish federation denies involvement in Saiz arrest
May 25, 2006: Liberty Seguros terminates contract
May 26, 2006: Saiz' team to continue racing, Fuentes says it was old blood, Comunidad Valenciana stays calm
May 26, 2006: Ullrich and Basso deny involvement with Fuentes
May 28, 2006: Fuentes released on bail
May 29, 2006: Ullrich talks, Jaksche unsure as to future
May 30, 2006: Sevilla admits to visiting the lab
June 1, 2006: Comunidad Valenciana DS resigns
June 2, 2006: Phonak sidelines Botero and Gutierrez
June 2, 2006: AIGCP asks Saiz and Labarta to resign
June 3, 2006: Sevilla declares his innocence, Sáiz's team becomes Astana-Würth
June 7, 2006: Interviú publishes Fuentes' drug list
June 9, 2006: Saiz steps aside
June 13, 2006: Comunidad Valenciana's Tour invite withdrawn
June 22, 2006: Astana-Würth OK for ProTour licence
June 26, 2006: Hamilton and Ullrich linked to Operación Puerto
June 26, 2006: Spanish media uncover Operación Puerto investigation details, Spanish championships not ridden after rider protest
June 27, 2006: Tour organisers confirm Astana withdrawal request
June 28, 2006: Ullrich Tour okay
June 29, 2006: More names released in Operación Puerto, Astana-Würth OK to race Tour
June 30, 2006: Ullrich, Sevilla and Pevenage suspended, The list gets longer, ASO rejects CAS decision,
June 30, 2006: Astana-Würth leaves the Tour
June 30, 2006: More riders named by UCI
June 30, 2006: More riders suspended: Basso and Mancebo out
June 30, 2006: Mancebo ends career
July 1, 2006: Fuentes' code names athlete's dogs
July 2, 2006: 38 pages of circumstantial evidence
July 7, 2006: Saiz questioned
July 9, 2006: Pevenage fired
July 21, 2006: Ullrich, Sevilla fired
July 26, 2006: National federations to receive Operación Puerto dossier
August 13, 2006: Comunidad Valenciana to stop August 20
August 15, 2006: Ullrich gets injunction, Swiss federation has papers
August 17, 2006: Former Liberty five: 2/5 cleared, others still in limbo
August 17, 2006: Swiss Cycling to hold Ullrich proceedings, AIGCP wants Phonak and Astana out now
August 19, 2006: German investigators raid doctor's office and home
August 22, 2006: Extensive doping alleged for Hamilton
August 26, 2006: Cipollini denies link to Fuentes
August 29, 2006: Basso case to be heard
August 30, 2006: Basso hearing adjourned
September 14, 2006: Ullrich's house searched in fraud investigation
September 15, 2006: USA Cycling informed about Hamilton, Austrian federation waiting on Jaksche papers
October 8, 2006: Puerto court orders Spanish federation not to act
October 27, 2006: Basso's Operación Puerto case officially shelved
October 28, 2006: Spanish federation drops Operación Puerto cases
October 29, 2006: UCI disappointed at legal limbo, vow to reopen investigation
November 3, 2006: Spanish anti-doping law passed
November 9, 2006: Discovery formally announces Basso signing
November 13, 2006: Botero cleared by federation
November 24, 2006: Swiss federation opens Ullrich disciplinary hearings
November 25, 2006: EPO found in eight bags of blood, Jaksche cleared to ride
November 26, 2006: EPO blood bags identified?, Manzano accuses Saiz attorney
November 28, 2006: Blood bags seized in Operación Puerto do not add up
November 29, 2006: Zaballa returns with Caisse d'Epargne
November 30, 2006: UCI asks for Spanish help
December 1, 2006: Sevilla and T-mobile agree to part
December 2, 2006: Operación Puerto riders called to testify
December 13, 2006: First witnesses testify in Operación Puerto
December 16, 2006: Saiz out, Unibet in ProTour
December 18, 2006: Allan Davis case closed
December 23, 2006: Polygraph confirms Manzano's claims
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