What is this Operacion Puerto?

The five Spanish riders who were not allowed to ride for Astana, causing
Vino to also not be able to ride, were cleared by Spanish authorities.

Basso has been cleared by the Italians.

Today, Botero was cleared by the Colombians.

Is anyone other than Ullrich still on the hook, in any way, shape, or
form? (I haven't read anything either way about Tyler Hamilton's
involvement since early in the game.)

Botero proved by his passport he was not in Europe when he was alleged
to have been "treated" by the dirty doctor.

The reference to Basso's dog, used to implicate him, fell apart when the
investigators learned that his dog's name was not the same as the name
they found in the records.

Ullrich was also never named directly; rather there was something about
the "Hijo de Rudicio", where Rudicio was supposed to mean Rudy Pevenage,
and his son was supposed to mean Ullrich.

This seems to be the flimsiest excuse for a case ever invented by man.
I keep waiting to hear what the never-accused-but-not-allowed-to-ride
riders are going to do about their exclusion from the Tour de France,
their firings from their teams, etc., etc.

The initial reports about Operation Puerto stated that 150-200 various athletes were involved. So far the mainstream
press has only concentrated on the 30-50 cyclists. What happened to the rest of the athletes? I can only speculate
that 1) the public doesn't care if football players, track & field types, etc. dope, or 2) the football and track &
field, etc. ruling bodies have MUCH greater influence on the press than the UCI.

I contacted a Bloomberg News reporter, who recently authored an article on the cyclists being cleared, and asked him
about the other athletes. He replied that he had heard only rumors. Maybe a coverup somewhere?

Dan

Colin Campbell wrote:
The five Spanish riders who were not allowed to ride for Astana, causing
Vino to also not be able to ride, were cleared by Spanish authorities.

Basso has been cleared by the Italians.

Today, Botero was cleared by the Colombians.

Is anyone other than Ullrich still on the hook, in any way, shape, or
form? (I haven't read anything either way about Tyler Hamilton's
involvement since early in the game.)

Botero proved by his passport he was not in Europe when he was alleged
to have been "treated" by the dirty doctor.

The reference to Basso's dog, used to implicate him, fell apart when the
investigators learned that his dog's name was not the same as the name
they found in the records.

Ullrich was also never named directly; rather there was something about
the "Hijo de Rudicio", where Rudicio was supposed to mean Rudy Pevenage,
and his son was supposed to mean Ullrich.

This seems to be the flimsiest excuse for a case ever invented by man.
I keep waiting to hear what the never-accused-but-not-allowed-to-ride
riders are going to do about their exclusion from the Tour de France,
their firings from their teams, etc., etc.

Dan Spisak wrote:

The initial reports about Operation Puerto stated that 150-200 various
athletes were involved. So far the mainstream press has only
concentrated on the 30-50 cyclists. What happened to the rest of the
athletes? I can only speculate that 1) the public doesn't care if
football players, track & field types, etc. dope, or 2) the football and
track & field, etc. ruling bodies have MUCH greater influence on the
press than the UCI.

I contacted a Bloomberg News reporter, who recently authored an article
on the cyclists being cleared, and asked him about the other athletes.
He replied that he had heard only rumors. Maybe a coverup somewhere?

Dan



Yeah, I'm sure a reporter In New York would know the truth. It's not
like they just report what other people tell them (i.e. weapons of mass
destruction are in Iraq, that black teenagers attacked the Central Park
Jogger).

Also, when you say the cyclists were "cleared"....I think what you
really mean to say is their conflict-of-interest federations conducted
no investigation, compared no DNA to samples in blood bags, and then
summarily whitewashed the entire file.

National cycling federations aren't known for their aggressive staff of
prosecutors on retainer. The Colombian cycing federation "investigated"
that Siberian Husky Botero about as aggressively as that country's
police crack down on cocaine cartels and kidnappers.

Thanks,

Magilla