Cycling:German cyclist Joerg Jaksche told the Operation Puerto trial yesterday that the treatment he received from Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes was designed to beat doping controls – and had nothing to do with genuine health issues.
On the first day of testimony from professional riders before the judge in Madrid, Jaksche’s evidence could have a bearing on whether the court decides that Fuentes, who denies doping, and his four fellow defendants violated public health laws.
Jaksche was the first cyclist to admit blood doping in connection with the Puerto investigation, which made it to court last month almost seven years after Spanish police seized anabolic steroids, transfusion equipment and blood bags.
The rider told German magazine Der Spiegel in June 2007 that he had used banned substances over a 10-year period and confirmed that from 2005 he was a client of Fuentes and that going to see him was like “going for an oil change”.
Jaksche told the court yesterday that as well as performing blood transfusions, Fuentes had supplied him with banned drugs including the booster erythropoietin (EPO).
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