The newspaper ‘Marca’ reported that the Caja Rural team has filed a complaint with the Civil Guard in relation to an event during the last edition of La Vuelta, the “massive dissemination of a partial report” on doping.
And this interested leak caused a great stir within LaVuelta. According to the aforementioned Madrid newspaper, all teams received via email and/or physical format a 23-page document called ‘temaorganizeddoping.pdf’, to which Marca had access, containing conversations and audios transcribed between March 2020 and January 2022. to “Operation Ilex”, a plot in which, among others, Dr. Marcos Maynar is involved and in which he could be accused of a crime against public health (illicit drug trafficking), the crime of money laundering and membership in a criminal group. .
According to the Civil Guard, “Operation Ilex” allowed us to corroborate how several athletes contacted Maynar and, after previous studies at the Faculty of Sports Sciences of Extremadura, it ended up leading to the manufacture, reception and storage of certain medications.
Now, the leaked – and very redacted – document offers new details with conversations that directly affect the reputation of the Caja Rural-Seguros RGA team.
In the text there appear messages from ‘Mmaynarm’, Marcos Maynar according to the Central Operational Unit (UCO), which is the one who prepares the report, in which he speaks with Ignacio Bartolomé, Ángel Vázquez or other runners from the Navarrese team about training and products related to sports preparation.
The cyclists contact Maynar or collaborators individually without the knowledge of the team doctor, as can be seen from the audios and text messages sent between Maynar and his nephew. Although they do quote one of the leaders, who never appears speaking in the conversations and who currently, according to the team, is not even a witness, noted the newspaper Marca.
The cycling group ensures that none of its members are under investigation, that they have been collaborating with the competent authorities all these months and that they do not expect any sanction from this entire process.
According to the team, the interested leak “tried to cause irreparable damage to a formation whose continuity in La Vuelta was never in danger, despite the leak of this document in the middle of the race.”
At the moment, according to their version and as reported by the newspaper, none of the team’s representatives are summoned to trial. Some of those investigated who are not part of the Caja Rural team are cited. The trial is now in the procedural phase and is expected to last a long time.
For now, Dr. Maynar and his nephew are the accused while Vicente Belda (father and son), the former cyclists Luis Vicente Otín and Ángel Vázquez as well as the coach of a Castellón swimming club, Rubén Bernal, are being investigated.
In statements to EFE prior to his judicial statement, Dr. Maynar admitted that, among other athletes, he recommended to ‘Supermán’ López the use of Actovegin, known as the ‘poor man’s EPO’, and that it causes the “heart muscle to suffer.” less during effort.”
“It is not a substance that is on the doping lists, therefore it is not doping,” he said. In the leaked documents it is understood that he allegedly works with this product and with the hormone Menotropin, also prohibited.
Maynar’s relationship with cycling began in 2004, when he offered his services to Vicente Belda’s Kelme, one of those named in ‘Operation Puerto’.
The Caja Rural-Seguros RGA team filed a complaint with the Civil Guard in which it has informed the Civil Guard of the events that occurred during La Vuelta España 2023 consisting of the massive dissemination of a partial and decontextualized report by email and by mail postal anonymously with the aim of damaging the reputation of this Caja Rural-Seguros RGA team and these facts have been brought to the attention of the Civil Guard through the corresponding complaint in case they could constitute a crime.
Since the complainant is unaware of the person or persons responsible for the events, the complaint is not directed against a specific person, and this is expressly reflected in the complaint.
Source: www.sport.es