THE HAGUE: Blanco, formerly the Rabobank team, said yesterday they have suspended Spanish rider Luis Leon Sanchez provisionally amid accusations he was linked to Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes in the Operation Puerto blood doping racket.
The Dutch team said it is investigating and would in the meantime not select Sanchez.
“The object of this investigation is to verify or refute revelations which appeared in the Dutch press on the subject of the role of our rider in the Fuentes affair,” Blanco said in a statement.
Spanish police believe Sanchez was a client of the doctor in 2006 while riding for the Liberty Seguros team -- something the 29-year-old denies.
Sanchez has won several major titles, including the San Sebastian Classic in 2010 and 2012, the 2009 Paris-Nice, the Tour Down Under in 2005 and four stages of the Tour de France.
Last Wednesday, a Spanish judge refused to demand that Fuentes, the suspected mastermind of one of the sporting world’s biggest blood doping rackets, provide the names of athletes iThe ruling in the so-called “Operation Puerto” case could avert a huge fall-out from the high-profile trial, with suspects across the drug-tarnished world of cycling and perhaps in other sports potentially at risk. AFP
