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Spain drug raids yield cyclist list

By TIMES WIRES
Published May 26, 2006

MADRID, Spain - Police investigating a drug scandal in Spanish cycling found lists of more than 100 top-level athletes who allegedly used the services of doctors offering doping procedures.

Civil Guard spokesman Jose Manuel Gallego on Thursday would not confirm or deny a report in the newspaper El Pais that the names of elite foreign cyclists - not just Spaniards - were on the lists. Five people were arrested in this week's raids.

"They are high-level athletes. The lesser ones don't do this because it is expensive," Gallego told the Associated Press, adding the investigation continues and more arrests are possible.

Police, who filmed athletes arriving at a Madrid apartment, seized large amounts of steroids, hormones and the endurance-boosting substance EPO. Nearly 100 bags of frozen blood and equipment for treating blood were found, along with documents on doping procedures performed on cyclists, the Civil Guard said.

Manolo Saiz, a major figure in Spanish cycling and director of the Liberty Seguros team, was detained by police Tuesday and released the following day. Liberty Seguros, the Spanish unit of Boston-based Liberty Mutual, announced it is ending sponsorship of the team because Saiz's arrest hurts "our name and the name of cycling."

Also arrested and still in custody were sports physicians Eufemiano Fuentes and Jose Merino Batres; the deputy director of the Comunidad Valenciana cycling team, Jose Ignacio Labarta, and former mountain bike racer Alberto Leon Herranz.

Former Spanish cyclist Jesus Manzano, who triggered a probe two years ago by alleging widespread doping in the sport, said he was among those using the blood doping treatments and had done so while competing in a Tour of Spain.

Stefan Schumacher won a sprint finish for his second stage victory. Ivan Basso retained the overall lead after the 18th stage, a 130-mile ride from Sillian, Austria, to Gemona del Friuli, Italy.

French Open organizers are banking on an extra day's play to help cut the attendance gap with other Grand Slam tournaments and boost their bid for a new stadium. The lone clay-court major starts in Paris on Sunday, marking the first time a Grand Slam has three Sundays of scheduled play. Revenue is forecast to rise about 4-million euros ($5.1-million) to 112-million euros.

Top-seeded Anastasia Myskina and second seed Anna-Lena Groenefeld advanced to the semifinals along with No. 9 Michaella Krajicek and No. 4 Shahar Peer.

Barbaro is showing his usual feistiness as he recovers from his shattered leg in the Preakness, and the Kentucky Derby winner is being showered with gifts ranging from flowers to food to religious ornaments. The 3-year-old bay colt eagerly greeted a treat-bearing doctor Thursday morning, delighting on the fresh baby carrots she brought. Among the gifts pouring into the hospital in Kennett Square, Pa., were several medals and statues of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals to Roman Catholics. Barbaro remains in the hospital's intensive care unit. His vital signs continue to look good.

Two dozen protesters were arrested for preventing work on the road that will carry tourists and athletes between Vancouver and Whistler during the 2010 Winter Games. Demonstrators from the tony West Vancouver suburb have been camping out at the site for a month, defying a court order. They say widening the Sea-to-Sky Highway will damage the majestic and environmentally sensitive Eagleridge Bluffs.

Olympic silver medalist Brett McClure, slowed by knee and elbow injuries the past two years, retired.

[Last modified May 26, 2006, 00:51:15]