Beloki to make comeback?

By Antonio J. Salmerón

The Basque cyclist Joseba Beloki, once named in the now shelved Operación Puerto affair, has told the local newspaper El Correo Vasco that he is ready to return to competition this season: “I am waiting for some interesting opportunity, because I want to compete about two more seasons."

Beloki does not discount the possibility of being picked up by a Pro Tour squad, and in this sense, admitted that, "I have already established contact with some of them. Euskalte-Euskadi? Could be possible."

He does not forget the damage caused by his supposed implication in the Operación Puerto, "because now nobody can forget that we have supposedly done something bad ." The veteran Spaniard rider said in addition that, "Once the judge filed this affair, the UCI was first to pressure the teams not to sign us."

Beloki referred to Ivan Basso, "who is taking part in the Tirreno, so that I believe that it is going to help us". He insisted that, "I have decided to continue without any problem, and, the reason why I am not doing it now is that my squad -Liberty- has disappeared, not because I am sanctioned."