Eufemiano Fuentes was at the center of Operacion Puerto(Image credit: AFP Photo)
Eufemiano Fuentes arrives to a mob of press at the Madrid court(Image credit: AFP Photo)
Germany's Jan Ullrich in 2006(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Former Phonak rider Tyler Hamilton en route to winning the eighth stage of the Vuelta a España. Two days later, on September 13, the American returned positive for homologous blood transfusion.(Image credit: Lavuelta.com)
The UCI still plans to conduct DNA testing on blood seized from Operación Puerto.(Image credit: AFP)
Eufemiano Fuentes, who last month was convicted of damaging public health and banned from working as a doctor for four years, is offering to sell his story to media outlets according to a report in The Guardian.
Fuentes' lawyers have reportedly sent an email listing subjects the disgraced doctor is willing to discuss, including naming his clients across a number of sports including cycling in paid interviews. Another topic on the list includes how a number of his clients were able to beat the drug testers at the Tour de France.
Fuentes also appears to be able to reveal in further detail how transfusions were carried out in hotel rooms at major races, with Tyler Hamilton, Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich, Roberto Heras and Jörg Jaksche among those named in the email as clients. Heras has previously denied this while Hamilton gave evidence against Fuentes at the trial.
"He has received approaches from several media organisations, offering money," said his lawyer Joseé Miguel Lledó. "This is a list of subjects he can talk about, but he won't do that until appeals have been lodged later in May."
News of the Operación Puerto investigation first broke in May 2006, with the arrests of Fuentes and Liberty Seguros team manager Manolo Saiz, while a number of Fuentes clients, including Ullrich and Basso, were prevented from starting that year's Tour de France.
Other riders who later faced sporting sanctions for their links to Fuentes include Alejandro Valverde and Michele Scarponi, although many of his clients have not been formally identified and criminal proceedings have moved slowly. Operación Puerto finally went to trial in January of this year and the hearing took place in 23 sessions, from January 28 to April 2.
The 216 blood bags seized during Operación Puerto - which belong to 36 different athletes. Judge Julia Patricia Santamaria rejected requests from anti-doping authorities and international sports federations for permission to analyse the 211 blood bags from 35 different people to identify the athletes involved, with the UCI launching an appeal on Friday.
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