Stapleton disappointed by other teams

Bob Stapleton, team manager of T-Mobile, is disappointed by a lack of action and interest by the other ProTour teams in the Fuentes affair. "I have the impression that some people are afraid, personally and politically, to take any action," he told the sid press agency.

The team managements met Saturday in Liège, to develop a joint strategy to ensure that the blood bags taken in Operación Puerto are turned over to the appropriate authorities. They are scheduled to meet again this week with race organizers and representatives from the UCI before presenting their plan publicly on May 4.

Stapleton said that it was urgent that something be done. "If need be, we can force action," he said. "That can also happen from outside, through pressure from the sponsors."

Roger Legeay, manager of Credit Agricole, said that at the upcoming meeting, "we will discuss what measures to take. A country cannot simply sit on 200 bags of blood," according to the sid. He added that the bags must be opened and tested to find out which athletes they belonged to, and which sports were involved.