October 28, 2006 – Based on recent judicial rulings, the Spanish Cycling Federation has officially dropped all files against all cyclists in the ongoing drug investigation known as Operacion Puerto.

This announcement comes a few weeks after the judge in charge of the case declared the documents in the investigation could not be used by any national cycling federations against the implicated riders.

With this news, the UCI and other groups that are attempting to fight the drug scandal find themselves in a difficult situation; suddenly the situation is back to square one. Already Giro winner Ivan Basso who was implicated heavily in the affair – and not allowed to start the 2006 Tour de France – was cleared, and it should follow that former Tour winner Jan Ullrich , also barred from this year’s Tour, will likely be cleared as well.

But the battle is not quite over yet. The Spanish Cycling Federation has decided nonetheless to begin investigations on Manuel Saiz, the director of the former Liberty Seguros squad, as well as the doctor Eufemiano Fuentos.