Cyclingnews reports that Jan Ullrich visited Dr Fuentes 24 times. Which all goes to make me wonder how many times Alejandro Valverde (sorry, Valv. Piti) may have popped into see the gynaecologist with sporting interests.These are two cases where DNA fingerprinting evidence demonstrates that Dr Fuentes was storing bags of blood that are definitively linked with professional cyclists.
Ivan Basso, of course, took it on the chin with a two year ban (that mysteriously didn't seem to be followed by the ProTour ban the rules would indicate). But dear old Alejandro Valverde (sorry, Valv. Piti) continues to fight, claiming innocence despite CONI ruling that the DNA match was sufficient to ban him from racing in Italy (and therefore preventing him from riding the 2009 Tour de France). Meanwhile, it looks as though the Operacion Puerto affair will drag on till 2011, leaving UCI president McQuaid furious.
It is of course fairly pathetic that a prima facie case of attributable blood doping, involving several sports along with cycling should take this long to come to trial. After all, how many athletes implicated will still be active by the time any justice is meted out?