Eufemanio Fuentes
MADRID, Feb 13, 2013 (AFP) – Spanish former cyclist Jesus Manzano on
Wednesday told a court he was given the blood-booster EPO and other drugs by a
doctor accused of masterminding a vast blood-doping network and currently on
trial in Madrid.
“Yes, I was treated by doctor Eufemiano Fuentes,” the 34-year-old told the
hearing in Madrid. “I was treated with EPO in 2000, 2001 and 2003 by
Eufemiano.”
Fuentes has been charged with his sister Yolanda and three other defendants
from cycling teams in connection with a blood doping racket, with dozens of
suspects in cycling and possibly other sports.
The five are accused of endangering public health but not incitement to
doping, which was not a crime in Spain at the time of their arrests in 2006.
Manzano alleged that he and other riders from the Kelme team were given
drugs when Fuentes was part of the outfit. He also implicated team manager
Vicente Belda and trainer Jose Ignacio Labarta in the practice. Both are also
in the dock.
“The medical planning was done by Eufemiano. The training by Labarta. They
always coordinated with Belda,” he told the court.
Manzano, who made similar accusations in a wide-ranging interview with
Spanish sports daily AS in 2004, claims that his health was compromised by the
substances given to him during his time with Kelme and recalled one occasion
when he fainted during a stage of the Tour de France in 2003.
“I had taken oxyglobin intravenously, a haemoglobin for dogs (which
increases oxygen levels in the blood), and Belda and Labarta knew, of course,”
Manzano said during evidence.
“I attacked (French rider) Richard Virenque on a stage and I began to feel
progressively worse until I fainted. In the team bus they asked me to not say what
I had taken nor to do a test because it was in France and we would all go to
jail.”
The court was told that Manzano had been pressured into taking the
substances by the trio.
“In 2001, Belda came to my room saying he would give me ‘a little something
to soup up my engine’. It was EPO (erythropoietin). Fuentes and Labarta were
there. If you didn’t take it they would expel you from the team,” he explained.
“I took the medication because it was compulsory in the team. I never did
it voluntarily. If I report them here (in Spain), I am sacked. If I did it in
France, then all of Kelme would go to jail.”
Manzano also went on to describe the lengths the team went to prevent its
riders from testing positive.
“They put a white powder on the penis to deteriorate the urine sample so
that we didn’t test positive for EPO,” he said.
“For the UCI (International Cycling Union) controls we put in saline
solution or human albumin (a protein in blood plasma) and that lowered the
haematocrit (red blood cell count) levels.
“We would put in half a litre and then Belda or someone would give us a
square pill to sweat and pee a lot to get rid of this half a litre.”
Fuentes, Labarta and Belda all deny endangering public health.
