• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

Operation Puerto

As there does not appear to be an actual thread for this case I am starting one. I really have no idea why there isn't one as this case spans several sports and has been going on for over a decade with legal battles and all kinds of craziness. I don't think even Hollywood could come up with a plot as strange as this case and actually sell it. I swear this is the never ending case that we will still be reading about and talking about in another 20 years because it still won't be resolved.

As for the names we do not know, I do believe the vast majority are not cyclists. It seems football/soccer and track and field are the sports where most of the athletes on the list participate or participated. Yes rumor is there are also tennis players names on the list.
 
Koronin said:
As there does not appear to be an actual thread for this case I am starting one. I really have no idea why there isn't one as this case spans several sports and has been going on for over a decade with legal battles and all kinds of craziness. I don't think even Hollywood could come up with a plot as strange as this case and actually sell it. I swear this is the never ending case that we will still be reading about and talking about in another 20 years because it still won't be resolved.

As for the names we do not know, I do believe the vast majority are not cyclists. It seems football/soccer and track and field are the sports where most of the athletes on the list participate or participated. Yes rumor is there are also tennis players names on the list.

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=31001&hilit=puerto
http://forum.cyclingnews.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=20611&hilit=puerto
http://forum.cyclingnews.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=18610&hilit=puerto
http://forum.cyclingnews.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=7582&hilit=puerto
http://forum.cyclingnews.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=5139&hilit=puerto
But not the megathread one might have expected.
 
Armchair cyclist said:
Koronin said:
As there does not appear to be an actual thread for this case I am starting one. I really have no idea why there isn't one as this case spans several sports and has been going on for over a decade with legal battles and all kinds of craziness. I don't think even Hollywood could come up with a plot as strange as this case and actually sell it. I swear this is the never ending case that we will still be reading about and talking about in another 20 years because it still won't be resolved.

As for the names we do not know, I do believe the vast majority are not cyclists. It seems football/soccer and track and field are the sports where most of the athletes on the list participate or participated. Yes rumor is there are also tennis players names on the list.

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=31001&hilit=puerto
http://forum.cyclingnews.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=20611&hilit=puerto
http://forum.cyclingnews.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=18610&hilit=puerto
http://forum.cyclingnews.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=7582&hilit=puerto
http://forum.cyclingnews.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=5139&hilit=puerto
But not the megathread one might have expected.


Yeah, a mega thread where everything can be put. Instead of a bunch of threads about one specific aspect of it. I'm surprised there hasn't been just one mega thread for it.
 
Sky Bot, sorry but Operation Puerto is a HUGE case that involves a LOT more than just cyclists. Cyclists are a very small part of it. This is very encompasing case, hence the reason there actually should be a large catch all thread for it. This case includes football/soccer players, track and field athletes and tennis players as well. Possibly athletes from some other sports as well. And it COULD include much of the '92 Spanish Olympic team, although doubt we'll ever know.
 
He's the only cyclist still active that was part of it. However, according to the WADA there are a few other athletes that are still active that were part of it. They just won't name names. Plus there is no reason to talk about some of these things, such retired athletes who they have names for but won't release in the Valverde thread. Has no place there, but can be discussed in this new catch all thread. Along with the other athletes whom they said are still active. They did say athletes plural.
 
Re:

Koronin said:
He's the only cyclist still active that was part of it. However, according to the WADA there are a few other athletes that are still active that were part of it. They just won't name names. Plus there is no reason to talk about some of these things, such retired athletes who they have names for but won't release in the Valverde thread. Has no place there, but can be discussed in this new catch all thread. Along with the other athletes whom they said are still active. They did say athletes plural.
Rubén Plaza will ride for Israel Cycling Academy in 2019; he was with Caisse in 2007 but couldn't do many races as he was persona non grata due to Puerto and spent two years in Portugal before returning to the top level.
Óscar Sevilla has been persona non grata at the top level for twelve years but is still going strong, having spent a year with Relax-GAM, the Spanish equivalent of riding for Savio in that era, before making himself doubly blacklisted by riding for the unpopular Rock Racing lineup. Since then he's spent a decade riding quite successfully in Colombia and periodically having successes when his Continental teams do Spanish tours to do the small post-Ardennes stage races.
Paco Mancebo has had an even more storied bounce through the levels since Puerto, first going to Portugal, then to Rock Racing. He did a six month contract with a Spanish-based Greek team before returning to the States, then spent a few years racing with Sky Dive Dubai in races like the Tour d'Egypte, then returned briefly to the US, then joined Inteja-MMR, a Dominican-licensed team. He will go to Japan for 2019 with Matrix-Powertag, one of the teams over there that has a line in veteran Spaniards and Frenchmen, and has long been racing things like Guadeloupe as a mercenary.
 
During the 2006 Giro there were rumours that a new scandal was coming up bigger than the Festina case. Just before the Tour the big shock came when the two top favorites Ullrich and Basso weren't allowed to start. It was the first major scandal involving blood doping, with Fuentes as Doctor Frankenstein. A lot of Spanish riders (Beloki, Mancebo, Sevilla) were banned as well. The names of athletes in other sports have never been revealed. After several years of investigation it was proven that Valverde was involved as well. Piti was the name of his dog.

Ivan Basso used his dog's name as a code as well: Birillo. At a press conference they asked his teammate Jens Voigt what the name of Basso's dog was. The clever German answered, "I don't know, but my own dog is called Toby."
 
Libertine Seguros -- Forgot about Sevilla, probably because he's mostly racing in Colombia. Wasn't sure if Plaza had retired or found a new team. Still at Continental/Pro Conti teams they aren't as in the spotlight as much.

I believe the names WADA has are not names of already known athletes involved and are names of other athletes who were part of it.
 
Re:

Bot. Sky_Bot said:
Koronin, but of course you are right.
But you can't change the fact (by opening this thread) who is The Master of OP in the current peloton.
giphy.gif
 
Re: Re:

Cookster15 said:
Bot. Sky_Bot said:
Koronin, but of course you are right.
But you can't change the fact (by opening this thread) who is The Master of OP in the current peloton.

This is a bit silly. How many others from OP are in the current peloton? To say Valverde was the "master" of OP is an exaggeration.

You have to consider the source and you will realize that it is futile to even respond.
 
Yet again this is in the news. Apparently WADA has been able to get DNA from 35 of the blood/plasma bags of the 200 they received. However, they aren't going to release names even though it sounds like they have been able to match most if not all the bags to athletes.
 

TRENDING THREADS