Le Monde: Millar implicates Euskaltel doctor

Independent.co.uk | Tour de France: Millar link adds to pressure on Euskaltel

This article in Saturday's (UK) Independent quotes from an article in Le Monde (surprisingly lucid Google translation ) that David Millar named the source of his EPO in his hearing Thursday, and that it was Euskaltel team doctor Jesus Losa. Millar's attorney was careful to note that Millar used EPO “outside of France.”

Losa has chosen not to accompany the team to Belgium for the Tour start for "reasons that his team have failed to specify."

The news will hardly be welcome for Euskaltel-Euskadi, already in the midst of a scandal after one of their riders, the Spaniard Gorka Gonzalez, was suspended from racing on Thursday by the UCI, cycling's governing body, for health reasons. Losa is also the doctor for one of Lance Armstrong's main challengers, Iban Mayo.

Millar lives in Biarritz, near the Spanish border.

Saturday's edition of the Spanish sports daily AS also features the story (rough Google translation), and says the team's management "wants to appear at ease, but are worried." Juan Manuel Bastida is serving as the team's doctor for the Tour.

AS quotes team manager Julian Gorospe as concerned that the UCI is persecuting his Spanish team for the sins of Jesus Manzano, who claimed he was encouraged and aided in doping by his Kelme team's management, and because the UCI doesn't believe Spanish cycling has done enough to combat doping.

AS also claims doctors (my translation skills pale) from the investigation spoke with Davide Etxebarria, banned for 2 weeks with a high hematocrit during Euskal Bizikleta/Bicicleta Vaska, but racing in the Tour.