BumbleBeeDave
06-09-2006, 12:05 PM
From VeloNews.com today . . .
BBD
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Saiz resigns
By The Associated Press
This report filed June 9, 2006
Madrid - (AP) - Manolo Saiz, the team director at the center of a major doping scandal in Spain, has resigned his position effective immediately.
Astana-Würth, which took over sponsorship of the team formerly known as Liberty Seguros, announced Saiz's resignation in a brief statement.
He will be replaced by Herminio Diaz Zabala, Marino Lejarreta and Neil Stephens.
Saiz said he decided to quit in order not to damage the team and Spanish cycling going into the Tour of France.
"I've taken the decision to guarantee the continuation of the team and welfare of cycling in general,'' Saiz told sports daily Marca.
Saiz, the Liberty Seguros team director, was among five people arrested last month after raids in which police seized bags of blood and doping substances and equipment. Also arrested were two doctors and a mountain biker. All were questioned and subsequently released by police.
Police seized large amounts of steroids, hormones and the endurance-boosting substance EPO. Nearly 100 bags of frozen blood and equipment for treating blood were found, along with documents on doping procedures performed on cyclists and other athletes.
Liberty Seguros withdrew its sponsorship of the team shortly afterwards.
The two doctors, Jose Merino Batres and Eufemiano Fuentes, have been charged with crimes against public health. Mountain biker Alberto Leon, along with Comunidad Valenciana cycling team deputy director Jose Ignacio Labarta, was ordered to appear before the court every two weeks and was forbidden from leaving Spain.
BBD
____________________________
Saiz resigns
By The Associated Press
This report filed June 9, 2006
Madrid - (AP) - Manolo Saiz, the team director at the center of a major doping scandal in Spain, has resigned his position effective immediately.
Astana-Würth, which took over sponsorship of the team formerly known as Liberty Seguros, announced Saiz's resignation in a brief statement.
He will be replaced by Herminio Diaz Zabala, Marino Lejarreta and Neil Stephens.
Saiz said he decided to quit in order not to damage the team and Spanish cycling going into the Tour of France.
"I've taken the decision to guarantee the continuation of the team and welfare of cycling in general,'' Saiz told sports daily Marca.
Saiz, the Liberty Seguros team director, was among five people arrested last month after raids in which police seized bags of blood and doping substances and equipment. Also arrested were two doctors and a mountain biker. All were questioned and subsequently released by police.
Police seized large amounts of steroids, hormones and the endurance-boosting substance EPO. Nearly 100 bags of frozen blood and equipment for treating blood were found, along with documents on doping procedures performed on cyclists and other athletes.
Liberty Seguros withdrew its sponsorship of the team shortly afterwards.
The two doctors, Jose Merino Batres and Eufemiano Fuentes, have been charged with crimes against public health. Mountain biker Alberto Leon, along with Comunidad Valenciana cycling team deputy director Jose Ignacio Labarta, was ordered to appear before the court every two weeks and was forbidden from leaving Spain.