November 24, 2006 – According to reports today by Agence France Presse, UCI President Pat McQuaid has sent letters to the various national cycling federations requesting that they not use any documents from the ongoing investigation of Dr Eufemiano Fuentes (Operacion Puerto) in sanctions against individual riders. This follows the call by a Spanish judge in October, forbidding sporting authorities from using documents from the Fuentes investigation.

Without recourse to documents from Operacion Puerto, cycling federations can do little to impose sanctions against cyclists suspected of doping.

“If we receive such indications from Mr. McQuaid, we will recommend to our disciplinary commission not to open any process against Jan Ullrich (formerly of T-Mobile),” said the director of the Swiss Federation, Lorenz Schläfli to the German daily, Bild. The process was supposed to have opened in January, 2007.

Ullrich is being defended by Peter-Michael Diestel, a lawyer specializing in doping. Meanwhile, Helmut Digel, the VP of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) doesn’t believe that Ullrich will be found guilty in the Fuentes affair, suggesting that: “he will ride again and people will say that injustice has been committed against this poor guy and (Ullrich) will once again be considered a hero.”

German cyclist, Jörg Jaksche (Astana) is also implicated in the Fuentes Affair. Jaksche’s lawyer believes that procedures can be brought forward against the accused cyclists only if Dr Fuentes is found guilty at his trial, expected to begin in mid 2007.