MADRID (AP) — Eight people linked to cycling’s Operation Puerto doping scandal will finally stand trial in Spain, facing up to two years in prison.
Madrid’s Superior Court says sports physician Eufemiano Fuentes, former Liberty Seguros team boss Manolo Saiz and six others arrested in 2006 on suspicion of providing doping services to cyclists will be tried.
Puerto implicated more than 50 cyclists, including Ivan Basso and Alejandro Valverde, in the use of performance-enhancing substances or practices. Spanish sports bodies could not use evidence to ban athletes because of Spanish law, which has since changed.
Cycling’s biggest doping scandal has impacted Spain’s reputation against doping because a Madrid judge twice shelved the case.
