Fuentes continued blood-doping in Germany after arrest

Eufemiano Fuentes didn't let his arrest in May stop his blood-doping practice, he simply transferred his operations to Hamburg, Germany, according to the German TV station ARD. Spanish investigators confirmed that pro cyclists went to a hotel and an apartment in Hamburg from late May to late June to have blood taken by two as-yet-unnamed persons who were sent there by Fuentes. The blood that was taken was planned to be transfused back to the cyclists before or during the Tour de France.

The Spanish investigators have a document with handwritten text, "in an obvious relationship to the doping ring," with the remark, "Rooms Germany and France." According to ARD, the Spanish investigators assume that the riders who were "treated" in Hamburg were among the top riders who planned to ride the 2006 Tour de France. The identity of the riders involved is so far not clear.

On a calendar page which is part of the evidence has on June 20, among others, the number 1 with the codewords for blood extraction and transfusion. Jan Ullrich is generally considered to be the number "1" in other documents seized from Fuentes' office, investigators say.

The two persons who handled the blood extractions are a man and a woman, perhaps a married couple, "whom investigators believe to have a Polish background." More information on them was not available.