In Madrid the trial against Eufemiano Fuentes continued as scheduled today as former Kelme rider Jesús Manzano took his place in the witness stand. Despite Fuentes’ claims to the contrary, Manzano repeated his earlier accusations against the reviled Spanish doctor. According to Italian website tuttobiciweb.it Manzano gave the following testimony under oath, “During the years 2000, 2001 and 2003 I was given EPO treatments by Fuentes ... and at the clinic in Merino I had blood taps, always one litre at a time. Back then my haematocrit was 56 %. We measured our haematocrits in a centrifuge, which was put at our disposal by the team.”

Manzano then went on to present very accurate details about names and places involved, “Fuentes had his headquarters at the hotel Aída de Torrejón. Fuentes gave me a prescription for HMG, which helps to balance the levels of testosterone and epitestosterone, and thus made it possible to avoid a positive doping test. The prescription was made to Fuentes’ sister, Yolanda, because HMG is normally given only to women. I then took the prescription to a certain pharmacy near the Cuatro Subway station in Madrid. I didn’t have to pay for the product at the pharmacy, and the other Kelme riders followed the same procedure as I did. Prior to the Tour de France my Columbian soigneur, Alberto León, would then travel to Valencia to pick up two bags of HMG and then he would transport these to France concealed in two wine containers.”
 

During his testimony Manzano also told the judge about the ways in which the Kelme riders were able to deceive the doping control officers and that they did so with the full knowledge and compliance of the Kelme team management. In addition he revealed the secrets behind the code language used by Fuentes to conceal the true nature of the contents of several prescriptions. He furthermore reiterated his previous allegations that Fuentes had administered repeated EPO treatments and blood transfusions on him.