Fuentes history

Bro Deal

Shamelessly stolen from strategy on DP. This explains a lot about why the Spanish authorities are not too eager to go after Fuentes:

ZigZagged was wondering why the Spanish Sports federation would have any interest in protecting Fuentes. It's a good question, and studying Fuentes career gives a good couple of reasons. This is basically an english translation of an article from Wieleruitslagen.be, with a few additional details added. I haven't seen this in English before (seen various versions in Spanish and Swedish), so here it is for your enjoyment:

1970s
Eufemiano Fuentes has a respectable career as a 400m runner (a couple of medals). Cute fact: He was trained by Manual Pascua Piqueras - Manual's brother Luis is the trainer of Oscar Pereiro. He starts studying medicine and works with the Argentine preparatore Guillermo Laig - a known doping doctor known to have provided his athletes with among other things anabolic steroids.

1980-1984
Fuentes gets his doctoral exam (specialized in gynaecology). Manuel Pascua gets Fuentes a job in the Spanish Athletics association, where he quickly gains a reputation. In 1984, he is accused of providing athletes with doping.

1985
Fuentes start working in cycling, where he joins the team Seat-Orbea (again, Manuel Pascua helps). Here Fuentes meets Manolo Saiz.

1988
Fuentes is forced to retire from his position in the Spanish Athletics association. Reason - his girlfriend (now wife) - the athlete Cristina Perez tests positive for doping. His client - Pedro Delgado - also tests positive for probenicid during the Tour de France (which he won - by the way). Delgado is lucky - although probenicid is on IOC's list, it is not on the UCI's doping list at the time. Delgado has subsequently admitted to doping to Jorn Mader.

After two positive doping tests, Fuentes retires from sports for a couple of years and works as a private physician. He specializes in auto-transfusions and blood recovery.

1990
Fuentes returns - and joins Manolo Saiz's ONCE.

1991
Melchior Mauri (ONCE) shockingly wins the Vuelta a Espana. On the eve of one of the critical stages of the Vuelta, Fuentes is on a plane to the start city of the next day's stage and talks to a journalist. Tapping the refrigerator bag on the seat next to him, he answers the question about its contents. "Here is the key to the Vuelta".

1992
Spanish 1500m runner Fermin Cacho wins gold at the Olympics in Barcelona. His doctor... Fuentes. According to the article, Fuentes was preparatore for almost the entire Spanish athletics team during the Olympics '92.

1995-1996
Fuentes starts working with Elche CF - a Spanish second division football team. In 1996, Barcelona try to buy Fuentes into an exclusive contract. He refuses.

1998
Fuentes moves to Kelme. He collaborates there with Nicolas Terrados - a man with his fingers deep in the Festina scandal. Terrados was also the preparatore of Johann Muehlegg - the German-born Spanish cross-country skier who was busted for doping in the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002.

2001
Las Palmas FC (Spain) is involved with a scandal involving large numbers of syringes found in their dressing room. Doctor in the club? Fuentes, of course. Fuentes is also alleged to be involved in the doping affairs surrounding Marco Pantani, Dario Frigo, and Giuliano Figueras.

This is the heyday of Fuentes career. Although Fuentes is the official team doctor of Kelme, he will work for anyone willing to pay. It is said in Spanish sports circles that Fuentes not only makes or breaks careers; he also decides who wins the races - especially the Vuelta. This is the year that the Spanish press acuses Fuentes of having rigged the Vuelta win in favor of Angel Casero. Fuentes wins the ensuing defamation lawsuit.

2002
Aitor Gonzalez is the surprise winner of the Vuelta. He was suspected of doping at the time, though it took 2 years before he was caught. Instead, another Kelme rider is busted for doping.

FC Barcelona again try to buy Fuentes into the club. He refuses again.

At this time, La Gazzetta dello Sport alleges that Michele Bartoli regularly travels to the Canary Islands (Fuentes office) to purchase Aranesp.

2003
Jesus Manzano falls unconscious during the Tour de France. In 2004, Manzano explains that he was the victim of a blood transfusion gone wrong and exposes Fuentes.

2004
Fuentes is forced to leave his post at Kelme. His replacement is his sister, Yolanda Fuentes.

Tyler Hamilton and sensation-of-the-year Santiago Perez test positive for blood doping. Both are clients of Eufemanio Fuentes.

2005
Francisco Mancebo tells Patrick Lefevre that he works with Fuentes in a private conversation.

Fuentes goes back to work - this time with Liberty Seguros-Wurth and Manolo Saiz. He got the job through his good friend - and LSW team doctor - Alfredo Cordova. Cordova, of course, was also involved in both the Manzano and O.P. affair. The same year, Nuño Ribeiro och Isidro Nozal get busted for abnormal blood values. Roberto Heras wins the Vuelta - and is busted for doping.

2006
Operation Puerto hits the airwaves. Initial reports suggest that at least two hundred athletes are involved in the doping network - not only Cyclists, but also Basketball (Spain is defending World Champions and was runner-up in the 2007 Euro Championship), Football, athletics, and tennis players. This was initially confirmed by Fuentes in interviews, though he subsequently shut up.

In December, Le Monde publishes an article based on papers showing that Barcelona (winner of the Champions League 2005), Real Madrid, Valencia, and Betis were all clients of Fuentes. That basically takes care of all the top Football teams in Spain. Fuentes latter denied the rumors.

2007
The case against Eufemiano Fuentes is shelved by the Spanish courts. Latter this year, Fuentes is a speaker at a seminar organized by the Spanish Sports federation on the subject of doping.

The Guardia Civil has persistently been refused access to several harddisks seized from Eufemiano Fuentes and his partners. Why? The judge has dictated that they are not a part of the investigation. At the same time, funds to the investigation by the Guardia Civil have been cut off.

Now why would "someone" not want Fuentes brought to justice? Apart from the impact a full disclosure of Fuentes network could have (if even half of what is alleged is true), one may discern other reasons.

Back in 2006, the Guardia Civil raided Fuentes apartments in Spain... but they failed to raid one location: Fuentes apartments in Gran Canaria - his primary office. As a result, the Guardia Civil seized only a fraction of Fuentes customer sheets. No doubt, Fuentes has made sure those papers are now in a very, very safe place... to be released in their entirety to interested media outlets if Fuentes is ever convicted in a trial.

It was no leak in the Spanish Law Enforcement services that allowed Le Monde access to papers indicating doping in Spanish football last year. The Guardia Civil had never seized those particular papers - Le Monde received it from Fuentes himself. I suspect that someone got the message loud and clear...

It was in the same interview, incidentally, that Eufemanio Fuentes replied to a question about his connection with Barcelona and Real Madrid saying:

"I cannot answer that. I have received death threats. I was told that if I revealed certain things, I or my family could have serious problems. I was threatened three times, and I won't be threatened a fourth time."

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

Crankyfeet

Wow. Excellent resume reproduction Bro. This covert work is having some positive results. I didn't realize the extent of his tenticles. And his influence in the 1992 Olympics, where Spain really punched above their weight.

There's a lesson in here. Get enough evidence on other people up your sleeve. People of influence with something to lose. And let them know that if you go down or you die, the evidence is going to get revealed. The key is the second bit (safe deposit box + note in will) or you get popped.

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Bro Deal

Tentacles? Let's just hope he doesn't meet any Japanese schoolgirls.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

Crankyfeet

Sorry, that was a typo. It was supposed to be "testicles".

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limerickman

Excellent post, BD : if what is reported is true, then there are far bigger sports/clubs/individuals in other sports, compared to cycling, working with Fuentes.
If Barca are involved as is alleged - then cycling and cyclists working with Fuentes are very small fry in comparison.
Not that this exonerate cycling : it proves that cycling and other sports are tainted.

I can't blame Fuentes for not talking - if what is reported is true, Fuentes clients are hugely powerful organisations and Fuentes would be compromising
some very powerful forces.

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.."But finally the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics. I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. [I]I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets" - this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it - Armstrong 2005 TDF
morelike hypocrisy.

whiteboytrash

What I find interesting is that its absurd that the UCI didn't know about Fuentes and that they threatened to sue Manzano when he came out with his story...... now the sport has gone in the other direction and a guy like Allan Davis is going to sue the UCI for restraint of trade.... poor bastard cant get a contract.....

Wayne666

I found that pretty interesting, first indication I've seen of pre-EPO era blood doping in cycling, other than Moser's hour record and the '84 US Olympic team. Anything posted by Noticias over on DP is good, most of the rest is pretty pointless arguing.

Bro Deal

Exactly. That 1991 date for transfusions in the Vuelta is very interesting. I have been assuming that riders began using Conconi's recipe for EPO use starting with 1990, which would obviate the need for transfusions. It begs the question of when did Fuentes start with transfusions.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

Wayne666

I know EPO was available by the very end of the 80s and I've read about Conconi's magic formula, but it seems pretty clear that the arms race in cycling was in it's infancy at that time. Most riders/teams were slow to get stuck in. Otherwise there is no explanation for the Gewiss/Ferrari trouncing of everyone in the spring of '94 and the general alarm this sent out to the cycling world.

The other link to the excellent Virenque story speaks to this situation as well:
"Roussel said that the team’s doping programme was put in place in 1993, when products were rushed to the Tour from Spain but too late to make a difference."

It's also interesting to note that Indurain is linked to Conconi (taken to the Ferrara institute by Unzue very early on and may have also been using EPO before everyone else was (Giro/Tour doubles in '92,'93) . His Tour wins ('91-95) span the time when doping became obligatory.

cyclingheroes

The hard thing about this post is.. its nothing new. Hard because except of Lemonde no-one of the 'big' media published it.

But WBT, who said the UCI didn't know?

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Cycling pictures


www.cyclingheroes-pictures.com

Gregers

The Finnish distance runner Lasse Viren was reputedly using primitive blood doping techniques at the 1972 O's and was definitely using it at Montreal 4 years later. I was aware of it at the time so I imagine that Fuentes, with his athletics involvement, also knew what was going on. It is quite feasible that he might made further proactive inquiries after he graduated and was starting his involvement with coaching.

Wayne666

There is no doubt blood doping has a long history and that theoretically it was possible that it was occuring in cycling but for the most part it doesn't seem to have been the case until WADA/UCI put the clamps on EPO use in the late 90s. I think most likely the doping was unsophisticated until EPO and then when everyone realized that there was a drug that really mattered and how it worked, they still needed their fix once it's use became limited so the more well to do teams/riders turned to blood doping.

snood

There are reports Anquetil blood doped. There was interview with Moser in 1999.

"They had experience. Conconi has worked with various sports like canoers, athletes and cyclists. I was not the only one nor the first who used blood transfusions to improve my performance. I was told that Jacques Anquetil had done it and that was well before my time."

He did not think he was breaching any rules. He said: "The method was being used everywhere. Sportspeople are always open to scrutiny but we should take a look at what normal people have in their medicine chest. It is simply life."


Moser retired about 1984.

Bro Deal

Moser broke the hour record in 1984.



Ten years later he set the "veterans" hour record, which was faster than his record of ten years earlier. I also seem to recall him and Dr. Conconi making an attempt to better his 1994 record in the late 80s when Conconi was doing his research with EPO.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates