Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Operación Puerto -- the fiasco that never ends

Cyclingnews published the latest in the lunacy that is Operación Puerto. Today, Spanish paper El Pais accused judge Antonio Serrano who is overseeing the case, of mistakes that derailed the investigation. According to El Pais, judge Serrano permitted police to "wiretap phone lines so that they could continue with their investigations, something that is considered as violation of the Spanish citizens' rights when there is no indication of an offense."

Among other things "the Spanish paper points out that Serrano was opposed to DNA exams to identify the blood bags nor did he allow the use of information contained in mobile phones or SIM cards. This meant that many rumours, like the implication of other sportsmen in football, tennis or athletics, could not be proved." Hmm, guess he was too much of sports junkie to allow this thing to go any further. After all with sports gone he'd probably be forced to talk to his wife.

While it's somewhat comforting to see that incompetence can be found elsewhere, this is not good for cycling. The result may be that the more than 50 cyclists who were implicated in the affair may get off Scott free. And that wouldn't be good for riders like Michael Barry and teams like T-Mobile and CSC that are making strong stands against doping. As one Spanish rider complained bitterly to El Pais: "Now you can say we're getting it from all sides," said an unnamed cyclist to El País. "The cheater says that the shelving is like exoneration, like proof that they were innocent, so that they will continue doing what they did before, and even with more impunity. A further difference will between us, who are riding cleanly, and them. They will not only beat us again, no, they will also laugh at us."

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