Destruction of Puerto blood bags ‘would be a hard blow’ says Spain’s anti-doping head

The head of Spain’s Anti-Doping Agency, Enrique Gómez Bastida, has said that the possible destruction of blood bags discovered as part of Operación Puerto “would be a hard blow for our anti-doping fight.” The verdict on the long-awaited appeal over the 200-plus blood bags seized during anti-doping probe Operación Puerto is expected soon and could see the bags being destroyed rather than released.

Alasdair Fotheringham

Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The IndependentThe GuardianProCycling, The Express and Reuters.