THE SHAME IN SPAIN

by Joey Davies

@theonejoeyd

Cycling has been on the map in recent weeks for unsavoury reasons- mostly involving someone who was once a hero to his nation and to sufferers of the terrible disease he defeated admirably.

The bravery of the US Anti-Doping Association (USADA) cannot be understated in taking Lance Armstrong on and winning, especially after the vicious persecution campaigns the disgraced former US Postal rider and his followers launched against his critics, as the likes of Armstrong's former masseuse Emma O'Reilly, his team-mate's ex-wife Betsy Andreu and journalist Paul Kimmage will testify.

USADA risked offending not only Armstrong's sycophants and members of his cancer charity Livestrong, but an entire nation, of which he is, or was, one of the most iconic sporting figures.

This brings me to a trial that is taking place in Madrid of a Spanish doctor by the name of Eufemiano Fuentes. His home was raided in 2006, and various blood bags and plasma bags were uncovered. Eight of the 92 plasma bags contained traces of EPO, the same steroid that Armstrong successfully injected during his now stripped Tour de France victories due to the lack of a legitimate test for the drug at the time. HGH (human growth hormone) and testosterone were also discovered at his premises in a police probe codenamed Operacion Puerto (Puerto meaning mountain pass).

Now 58 cyclists were named as having worked with Dr Fuentes and one of them, Armstrong's ex-US Postal teammate and EPO user Tyler Hamilton- has successfully been added to the witness list on request by WADA. Hamilton once described Dr Fuentes as a 'one-man Wal-Mart of doping.'

But you see the case becomes a whole lot deeper when taking into account Dr Fuentes' admission on Tuesday that various other athletes including footballers, tennis, boxers and those participating in athletics were among his clients.

However, this is where the situation descends from revelation to downright whitewash. A legal protocol established before the trial limited the case to cyclists only, sparing athletes from the other sports I have mentioned. The Italian doping authority requested the judge order Fuentes to identify the list of non-cycling names. Even the Doc himself was prepared to blow the whistle when yes, the judge refused to request them.

Spain is a country with some of the most lackadaisical attitudes towards doping you will ever encounter. One of its most successful riders, Alberto Contador, was banned by the UCI for testing positive for clenbuterol at the 2010 Tour de France. He has since returned to a triumph at the 2012 Vuelta race (one of cycling's Grand Tours) and was hailed as a hero despite the previous ban. But that's not even the worst of it.

Roberto Heras tested positive for EPO when he won the Vuelta title in 2005. The UCI, despite all of the recent criticism in its direction that it does not do enough to combat the use of PEDs, stripped him of the victory and rightly so. Well guess what. A few weeks ago, a Spanish court restored the cheating Heras as the winner of the race. It's enough to make you vomit.

And now, the Spanish authorities are seemingly doing their utmost to hide the names of all of Eufemiano Fuentes' non-cycling clients. I smell a rat, and it doesn't smell good. Cycling and doping have been inter-twined for a long time even before Lance Armstrong's fall from grace. Football and tennis however, despite their hopeless testing regulations, have never been historically tagged with the performance enhancing drug culture.

Are they afraid that a few Spanish sporting heroes' reputations could be under threat if they name Fuentes' clients and allow WADA access to his 200 blood bags? 

This is not an attack on Spain or its people, it is a criticism of its attitude towards drug cheats. The country made the utilisation of PEDs illegal in 2006, the same year Dr Fuentes was caught out. If El Reino wants to gain some respect and admiration from those with fair play and honesty instilled in their veins, then the power people in Madrid should do the decent thing and show a bit of transparency in this trial.

Otherwise Operacion Puerto- and Spain's 'efforts' to stamp out doping, will forever remain clouded in a smokescreen of doubt.