MADRID: The Spanish doctor on trial for allegedly running a doping ring in cycling made his final defence yesterday before the judge retired to consider her verdict which is due in around six weeks.
Eufemiano Fuentes and four other defendants, including his sister Yolanda, have been appearing in a Madrid court since late January, nearly seven years after anabolic steroids, transfusion equipment and blood bags were seized as part of an investigation code-named “Operation Puerto”.
The proceedings have attracted international attention because some of Fuentes’s clients were successful professional riders, including American Tyler Hamilton who gave evidence in February.
Anti-doping authorities, who are represented in court, hope the trial will lead to evidence of wrongdoing by athletes in sports other than cycling being made available.Fuentes, who denies doping, said in his opening testimony he also had clients in sports including soccer, tennis, athletics and boxing. AFP
