Cycling: Liberty manager held in police raid

Caption competition
Caption competition
View past winners of our Sports caption competition
News in pictures
News in pictures
On Facebook
Sport blogs

Rugby League: World Club Challenge raises profits, and eyebrows

After 40-odd years of watching and writing about this game, I thought I had my eyebrows under contro...

iBet: AC Milan’s lead at the top looks temporary

Juventus lost the lead of Serie A in Italy at the weekend by virtue of their game with Bologne being...

Financial strife fails to dim smiles at high-flying Rayo Vallecano

This is a club that, despite all it's off-the-field financial problems, is currently flourishing in ...

The manager of one of cycling's top teams has been detained for questioning by Spanish police as part of a major anti-doping investigation. The Liberty Seguros manager, Manolo Saiz, together with the controversial sports medic Eufemanio Fuentes, was being held in a police station in Madrid last night, along with another doctor, an official from a second team and a mountain bike professional.

Police raided four flats in the Spanish capital and in Saragossa as part of the operation yesterday morning, one housing a clinic.

Spanish sports newspaper reports claimed that more than 1,000 doses of anabolic steroids and hormones, as well as about 100 drip-bags of artificially manipulated blood had been discovered in the clinic.

The products are believed to belong to a drugs ring set up to supply professional athletes with illegal performance-enhancing substances.

Liberty Seguros officials denied that there was anything to worry about. "We're staying calm because there is no room for any kind of doubt," said the team director, Pablo Anton.

Saiz used to boast that his teamhad never had a positive dope test in their 16-year historybut their former leading rider Roberto Heras ended that record in 2005 when traces of the banned substance EPO were found in his blood.

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
Career Services

Day In a Page

No secularism please, we're British

No secularism please, we're British

Arguments about the role of religion in national life have recently acquired a new urgency
Harold Tillman: 'Chinese tourists can save the high street – if we let them'

Harold Tillman interview

'Chinese tourists can save the high street – if we let them'
Working as a jail torturer ruined my life

Working as a jail torturer ruined my life

Meet the former soldier who has joined the political prisoners he tortured in Turkey's Mamak prison by suing the generals who led a regime of terror
The local high street jet shop

The local high street jet shop

Got a spare $50m and can't stand the queues at Heathrow? Get yourself down to London's first private plane dealership
Do you like your doctor? It could be the death of you

Do you like your doctor?

It could be the death of you...
The mysterious affair of how Agatha Christie is teaching foreigners English

How Agatha Christie is teaching foreigners English

Twenty of the author's novels have been adapted and presented with learning notes and a CD
Six Grammys, five years off: Adele puts love before career

Six Grammys, five years off

Adele puts love before career
The 10 Best binoculars

The 10 Best binoculars

From no-frills to bins with digital cameras
Milan for £300

Milan for £300?

A cultural family holiday - on a budget - to Italy's most stylish city
'Black-hole' resorts: Turn up, tune out, log off

'Black-hole' resorts

Turn up, tune out, log off
New Arsenal face an old question of credibility in San Siro

New Arsenal face an old question of credibility in San Siro

Remodelled since winning in Milan in 2008, for all their consistency – and prize-money – Wenger's side are yet to claim a European title
James Lawton: This prodigal son deserves no forgiveness

James Lawton: This prodigal son deserves no forgiveness

City would be putting their desire to win title ahead of morals if Tevez plays for them
Mark Cavendish: Is Olympic gold at end of the rainbow?

Mark Cavendish interview

Is Olympic gold at end of the rainbow?
Apple admits it has a human rights problem

Apple admits it has a human rights problem

After years of complaints and workers' suicides in China the technology giant faces up to the human cost of its gadgets
Peter Moore: 'I feel guilty I'm the only one alive'

Peter Moore interview

'I feel guilty I'm the only one alive'