Doping along the Camino de Santiago

Secretly recorded telephone conversations between the principal suspects in the Operation Greyhound anti-doping investigation shed further light on the difficulties involved in ridding Spanish cycling of the use of illegal drugs.

On December 9, Spanish police involved in the operation arrested 14 people, including athletes, doctors and coaches, among them world women's steeplechase champion Marta Domínguez. Six people including her coach, César Pérez, were charged with crimes against public health and drug trafficking.

Among the six accused is Dr Eufemiano Fuentes, who was also implicated in a 2006 investigation into doping in cycling, known as Operation Puerto.

Operation Greyhound was dubbed Operation Puerto II by some because of the involvement of several figures in both cases, among them Fuentes.

The telephone conversations that have been released in relation to Operation Greyhound involved Fuentes, César Pérez, and José Ignacio Labarta, the former assistant sports director of Kelme, the cycling team sponsored by the Valencia regional government, who was arrested as part of Operation Puerto.

In September of last year, Labarta was in the Colombian city of Medellín, working as a trainer for the Orgullo Paisa cycling team, which is based there. The team's rider Sergio Henao had won the Vuelta a Colombia cycle race a few weeks before.

During the pair's telephone conversation, Labarta tells Fuentes that when he returns to Spain on September 8, he intends to ride the Camino de Santiago pilgrim's route. He says that he is concerned about whether he is fit enough, saying that he has trained a couple of times with his team and couldn't keep up. "Give me something for the Camino," he asks Fuentes, who replies that when he returns to Spain he'll need to take Deca Durabolin 500, a variant of the anabolic steroid nandrolone. Laberta expresses his fears about taking the substance, but as the conversation continues, Fuentes wins him over.

On September 23, Labarta completed the Camino de Santiago, and celebrated the exploit with a dinner with friends in a well-known restaurant in Santiago de Compostela. Sitting at a nearby table is a group of undercover Civil Guards, who take a number of photographs that have also been included as evidence in Operation Greyhound. With Labarta is a masseur from the Xacobeo-Galicia cycling team, along with two team cyclists, who just a few days earlier completed the Vuelta a España cycling race, turning in good performances.

Also present is Ezequiel Mosquera, who came second in the Madrid stage of the race, as well as David García.

In late January, García was given a two-year ban for his positive test in the Vuelta a España. García, who finished in 11th place competing with the Xacobeo team in the Vuelta a España, took the in-competition test on September 13 after which the Madrid laboratory analyzing his sample detected banned blood booster EPO.

Mosquera is awaiting a decision after testing positive.