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Monday, 03 July 2006 |
Spanish doping investigation threatens many sports  Sports besides cycling are involved in the Spanish anti-doping investigation, which has rocked the Tour de France, claims the head of cycling's governing body Pat McQuaid.
International Cycling Union (UCI) president Pat McQuaid said: "Only riders have been named so far.
"But many footballers, tennis players and athletes are on the list.
"Two years ago, (former UCI president) Hein Verbruggen warned the authorities because the UCI knew that blood doping was a common practice in Spain."
A six-month drugs probe in Spain, nicknamed Operation Puerta, caused the arrests of five men, including Manolo Saiz, who recently quit as boss of the Liberty-Seguros team, now renamed Astana-Wurth.
Scandal made the news on 23 May when the Guardia Civil raided a number of addresses and discovered anabolic steroids and packs of frozen blood.
Astana-Wurth had to pull out several of their team before the start of the Tour de France after five of their riders were named among a list of around 56 cyclists by the investigators.
In all, 13 riders were prevented taking part, including two of the favourites, German Jan Ullrich and Italian Ivan Basso.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 05 July 2006 )
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