Lots has happened in Operation Puerto today in Madrid.
Jesus Manzano rode for the Kelme team beginning in 2000. He testified today. It was he who put the police on the trail of Dr. Fuentes in 2004 when he talked to the press. He said Dr. Fuentes was the chief medical officer for the team until 2002 before distancing himself. Manzano testified that he almost died twice. In the 2003 Tour de France he was forced to abandon by stage 7 when he was injected with an unknown substance. He thought he wouldn’t live to see age 50. At the time he spoke with the press in 2004 he developed a lot of enemies in the peloton. He was threatened with death. Belda, the director sportif of Comunitat Valenciana which was the continuation of Kelme, tried to discredit Manzano, calling him a cocaine maniac and seeking notoriety. Fuentes claims Manzano was never one of his clients. Manzano says that the blood he was injected with in 2003 did not have his name on it and there was no verification that it was his. The judge did not ask Fuentes who his customers were.
