Spain to send blood samples to WADA as part of cycling doping case

[June 14, 2016]    MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish court said on Tuesday it would order blood samples to be sent to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and had absolved doctor Eufemiano Fuentes in the long-running "Operation Puerto" doping case in cycling.

Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes (R) leaves a courthouse on the first day of the high-profile Operacion Puerto doping trial in Madrid, January 28, 2013. REUTERS/Sergio Perez

Fuentes had been barred from practicing sports medicine for four years in 2013.

WADA had since then been calling on Spanish authorities to release the blood samples, though Spanish courts had until now said evidence from the case would not be released to anti-doping authorities for further investigations.

"Operation Puerto" was started in 2006 when authorities seized anabolic steroids, blood transfusion equipment and dozens of blood bags labeled with code names in Madrid, sending shock waves through the international sports community.

(Reporting by Emma Pinedo, writing by Paul Day; Editing by Julien Toyer)

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