Fuel for the Fire

[epoh]

Source: http://www.podiumcafe.com/2008/7/25/579490/story-title

 

Fuel for the Fire

 

 

http://assets.sbnation.com/profile_images/30540/Picture_1_tiny.jpg

by gavia

on Jul 25, 2008 9:51 PM EDT

 

 

in News

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today, the S?ddeutsche Zeitung

resurrected yet again Operation Puerto, the vampire that preys on

cycling and refuses to die. Journalist Andreas Burkert's story is based

upon the original Puerto documents, an anonymous source close to the

German investigation of Puerto, and the testimony of Basso in Italy,

though it's unclear how much of that testimony Burkert personally saw.

He makes three claims: that Schleck is Amigo di Birillo, that Riis,

Basso and Schleck met Fuentes in December 2005, and that the recent

testing of Team CSC-Saxo Bank by CONI related to a renewed

investigation of Puerto.

 

Read the original German article here.

 

Translation and analysis below the fold. My apologies in advance for the ridiculous length!

 

 

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Cast

your mind back, and you will recall that the German authorities

launched their own investigation into Puerto, because of Jan Ullrich's

involvement and because of the evidence pointing to the involvement of

German doctors. According to evidence that emerged during the Basso

investigation, both Basso and Ullrich met with Fuentes in Germany

before the ill-fated 2006 Tour. Subsequently, the German authorities

uncovered significant evidence in the case. S?ddeutsche Zeitung

covered the story aggressively, and buried in their archives is likely

one of the more complete stories of the case outside of the secret

records kept by the authorities. They are a well-respected paper in

Germany, who devotes extensive attention to doping questions.

 

On to today's story. The article begins by reminding us of Bjarne

Riis's past, his confession and his absence from last year's Tour.

Riis's past taints his team's present. Or so implies journalist Andreas

Burkert. The story relies on an anonymous source close to the

investigation in Germany. According to this source, the police notes on

the case reveal clearly the name of Frank Schleck as connected to Dr.

Fuentes. The article further claims that officials in an un-named

country - the article makes clear that they refused for "tactical

reasons" to reveal their nationality - have evidence that un-masks

Schleck as the "Amigo di Birillo," code name #25 on the list of

Fuentes. The article does not give any indication as to the nature of

that evidence, though it includes a reproduction of the list of

codenames from the Puerto dossier.

 

Speculation has always existed about the identity of the "Amigo," as

indeed it has for all the code names. Of course, the name had to

correspond to someone close to Ivan Basso, quickly revealed as Birillo.

But who? Conventional wisdom believed "Amigo" to be Giovanni Lombardi,

who lived in Madrid and by all accounts knew Dr. Fuentes. Lombardi also

travelled as Basso's room-mate, adding credence to the triangular

relationship between Fuentes, Lombardi, and Basso.

 

In today's article, Burkert mentions this argument, but also points

to the connection between Lombardi and the Schlecks: Lombardi serves as

the manager for both brothers. In his own public statements, Lombardi

has said he knew Fuentes "only superficially," writes Burkert. And here

Burkert seems to want to have it both ways: Lombardi knew Fuentes, and

manages the Schleck brothers, so Frank must have worked with Fuentes.

But Lombardi only knew Fuentes superficially, so he could not himself

have been a client. It had to have been Schleck, not Lombardi who

worked with Fuentes. Which is it? Did Lombardi know Fuentes or not? And

what does that tell us about Schleck? Burkert has no answers here.

 

Carlos Sastre is not above reproach either for Burkert. Though no

code name has ever been linked with Sastre, Burkert tells us that

Sastre lives in Madrid, where Fuentes had his clinic. Madrid is a big

city. Surely, many people live there. But Sastre has also ridden for

Bjarne Riis since 2001, and the question of Riis is a more complicated

one, of course. He admitted to doping as a rider, but has claimed to

run a clean team and hired Damsgard, one of the world's foremost

anti-doping experts to run an internal testing program. Whether Riis's

claims and Damsgard's program are credible, I leave to the judgement of

the reader.

 

Perhaps more intriguingly, the author claims to have seen or been

told about the contents of Ivan Basso's testimony in Italy. Burkert

claims that the Basso testimony indicates that Basso, Riis and Schleck

met with Fuentes in December 2005. The article does not say where the

meeting took place. The quotes from the testimony are incomplete, and

consequently, impossible to evaluate. "In december in a meeting with

Fuentes was" comes from the testimony, but the subject is missing.

(Translation is intentionally literal here to show the truncated nature

of the quote.) Burkert tells us that Riis, Basso and Schleck were at

the meeting and that the testimony says so. But he does not show us how

he knows this, or at least does so in an incomplete way.

 

Burkert makes a very big claim here: That Basso told Torri that Riis

himself participated in the blood doping shenanigans on the team, and

that Fuentes provided something like team-wide doping services. If this

allegation were ever proven, it would mean the end not only of the

team, but of a number of successful careers.

 

For the cynics, the heavy testing of CSC riders, including Frank

Schleck by both the French and Italian authorities and the search of

Johnny Schleck's car point add fuel to the fire. But no formal

investigation of Frank Schleck's possible involvement in Puerto has

ever occurred. Nor has any evidence yet surfaced publicly that placed

Riis and Fuentes in the same room at the same time. By now, I would

have expected an enterprising journalist from Denmark - there are

several who work the doping beat very hard - or elsewhere would have

uncovered it. Riis with Fuentes? That's just far too good to have gone

two years undiscovered.

 

Lastly, Burkert links these allegations against Schleck and Riis to

the out of competition testing carried out by CONI during the Italian

stages of the Tour. Are the officials from the un-named country

Italian? Burkert implies in the end that they are, and that the

Italians may still have an interest in Operation Puerto, despite the

recent public statements of Etorre Torri to the contrary. Rumors

suggest that Fuentes is again active. Perhaps Torri hopes to catch him

out, though no evidence has yet surfaced of Fuentes renewed activities.

The alleged meeting between Riis and Fuentes occurred in December 2005.

What does that tell us about the team now?

 

If the Basso testimony in truth links Riis to Fuentes and if Basso

told the Italian authorities that Riis intended to match up more of his

riders with Fuentes, then it's hard to imagine that Frank Schleck was

not among those linked to Fuentes, given his then role as a climbing

gregario to Basso. The testimony from Basso, if real, might also

explain the intense scrutiny the French authorites have focused on team

CSC during this Tour. French newspaper l'Humanit? today

suggests that the AFLD suspects Frank Schleck of blood doping, though

nothing conclusive has appeared in his test results. The l'Humanit? article, however, gives no sources. Damien Ressiot, this is not. Consequently, it adds only ambiguity to the Schleck story.

 

The SDZ asked six questions

of Riis, and asked for comment. The editors sought confirmation of the

allegations that Riis had met with Fuentes, that Riis had worked with

Basso and Fuentes, and that Schleck is, in fact, Amigo di Birillo. In

response, Riis wrote, "Whenever a team has many successes, it seems too

often to lead to speculation and rumors. It seems, as if that is part

of the successes." Riis offered his oft-repeated assurances about the

strict nature of the CSC anti-doping program. "Our riders have

obligated themselves to work under the strictest anti-doping rules, and

therefore we trust them." By way of conclusion, Riis commented that all

CSC riders are "obligated to provide DNA tests, should the

circumstances require them." Shorter: I refuse to comment on these

allegations. My team has a strict anti-doping policy. The end.

 

The Tour de France is a hothouse for rumors, and on no subject do

the rumors grow more quickly than doping. The list of ten riders, or

maybe it was 20, who had "abnormal values," the heavy testing carried

out on some riders more than others, and the abrupt abandon by

Christophe Moreau, nevermind l'affaire Saunier Duval: all of these

incidents have helped to raise the speculation to a fever pitch this

Tour. During the first week, for example, the caravan buzzed with the

"news" that Fabian Cancellara had tested positive. But no official

statement ever emerged. Of course, the closer to the top of the

classification, the faster the grapevine grows. As Denis Menchov drew

closer to the race lead, for example, murmurings about his relationship

with Michael Rasmussen grew louder. It is all but certain that Menchov

trained with the disgraced Dane. But only at the Tour could this

relationship take on its fullest, most nefarious importance.

 

In this context, it's hard to know what to make of these allegations

against Frank Schleck. Yes, by all acounts, he has been tested early

and often by the AFLD and CONI. And yes, French officials searched Papa

Schleck's car. But neither the tests nor the search has yet found

anything conclusive. Until then, we're left where we began: we either

believe in a particular performance or we don't, and absent a positive

test or formal investigation, we can't know one way or the other

whether a particular rider is lying to us or not. On any given day,

your favorite rider could test positive. C'est le v?lo.

 

So go watch the bike race already.

 

 

 

[AndreZA]

I lost interest after I read "Operation Puerto"

 

 

[TNT1]

I'm shocked! 

[Willehond]

Wow, how much conjecture, speculation and wild rumours do you need to put together for smoething to become fact?  Looks like a case of 1+1=7. Someone clearly had to fill some column inches.

 

The only bit worth reading is the last sentence:

"So go watch the bike race already. "

[turtlek]

what a load of B$LL $HIT

[Guest colonel]

Interesting reading.

[Velouria]

Far too many ifs and buts for me. Burkert seems to be obsessed. I am sure if he dug a little deeper, he could find a connection with 911, the faked moon landing, JFK's assassination and evidence that Elvis is alive.

[jabbathemutt007]

 

Far too many ifs and buts for me. Burkert seems to be obsessed. I am sure if he dug a little deeper' date=' he could find a connection with 911, the faked moon landing, JFK's assassination and evidence that Elvis is alive.

[/quote']

 

Of course Elvis is alive. Didn't you see him at the TDF with the Shimano remote changing Burghardt gears ?

 

[Chunky]

 

Far too many ifs and buts for me. Burkert seems to be obsessed. I am sure if he dug a little deeper' date=' he could find a connection with 911, the faked moon landing, JFK's assassination and evidence that Elvis is alive. [/quote']

 

Valouria you must be right. there is no way the team with the most sophisticated and up to date doping program in the world would ever have a rider on the team that would visit Fuentes.

 

All the CSC riders are squeeky clean, including Mr 64% Riis. There is no way that any pro rider would be doping. No chance.

[jabbathemutt007]

 

Valouria you must be right. there is no way the team with the most sophisticated and up to date doping program in the world would ever have a rider on the team that would visit Fuentes.

 

All the CSC riders are squeeky clean' date=' including Mr 64% Riis. There is no way that any pro rider would be doping. No chance.

[/quote']

 

Indeed. It would be shocking if that was not the case.

 

[epoh]

mwhehehehe!!! The cycling world is too small for a rumor not to be true 

 

 

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2008/sep08/sep27news

 

 

Schleck investigated as Fuentes customer

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Fr?nk

Schleck of CSC-Saxo Bank was reportedly "unmasked" Friday as a customer

of Eufemiano Fuentes, the doctor whose Madrid clinic was raided by

Spanish police in 2006 as part of Operaci?n Puerto. The German newspaper S?ddeutsche Zeitung

reported that investigators have evidence of nearly seven thousand Euro

being wired to Fuentes' Swiss bank account in March 2006. The

Luxembourg Attorney General Robert Belver confirmed the existence of

the payment.

 

 

"Yes, there is this payment of about 7000 Euro to Mr. Fuentes. I have

received copies of the bank documents from Germany," Biever told the SZ. "Several weeks ago I sent these documents concerning Schleck to the Luxembourg Anti-doping Agency."

 

The documents were uncovered by the German Bundeskriminalamt (federal

police), which confirmed the matter. "Luxembourg is responsible, that's

why we sent them the papers," press spokeswoman Anke Spriesterbach told

the newspaper.

 

In addition, the newspaper says that it has seen witness statements

claiming that Schleck and CSC manager Bjarne Riis visited Fuentes in

Madrid as early as December 2005.

 

The newspaper further stated that research shows that Schleck is the

one identified with the name "Amigo di Birillo". Birillo has been

identified as Ivan Basso, Schleck's friend and former teammate, who confessed his involvement with the Spanish doctor last year.

 

On Friday, Schleck told the SZ, "I have not doped." But he

confirmed that he had an appointment with the Luxembourg Anti-doping

Committee. "Of course I will take the time to clear this situation up."

 

Riis told the newspaper, "Frank confirmed to me that he hadn't done anything wrong. hasn't violated any anti-doping rules."

 

Schleck is currently in Varese for the World Championship road race on Sunday.

 

[Sammajoor]

Give him one of those Voltaren Bullet thingies for his @ss, might take away the pain

[Delgado]

I'm shocked! 

Me too!!!

[KlapperKnop]

During TdF 2008, has Frank been tested during the race? Having the yellow jersey; do you people honestly think he would not have been tested???

 

Surely he was just lucky at the time of Basso that he was not caught in 2006 ...