Jesús Manzano – the former Kelme rider and whistleblower about alleged doping infractions within Spanish cycling – has leveled new allegations against Alejandro Valverde with a month to go before the start of the 2007 Tour de France.

Manzano, who blew the whistle in a series of paid interviews in 2004 about the practices of alleged Puerto ringleader Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes, told the French sports daily L’Equipe that “nothing’s changed in Spanish cycling.”

The ex-pro continues to push his story that “those incriminated (in doping) continue to do their work” and accused Valverde of being connected to the Puerto scandal, a charge the ProTour champion has repeatedly denied.

“Valverde was racing on Kelme and he wants us to believe that the only thing he was racing on was lettuce,” Manzano said. “He’s up to his neck in the Fuentes business.”

In 2004, Manzano blew the lid on alleged doping practices, but a Spanish judge and the Spanish cycling federation didn’t take any action after citing what they called a lack of concrete evidence. He later collaborated with Spain’s Guardia Civil during the Operación Puerto investigation in 2006.

“I am prepared to continue with the fight if it serves to change something. In Italy, in France, in Germany, things have changed,” Manzano said. “Spain prefers to throw in the towel. Nothing’s changed here. I don’t believe in the justice of my country.”

Manzano – who claims he nearly died from a botched blood transfusion -- was one of the first Spanish pros to publicly admit he used EPO and other banned products.

“I remember during the 2003 Vuelta, Fuentes drove up to our hotel in his Porsche with thermoses of EPO on the passenger seats without even hiding them,” Manzano said. “We were already being more careful at the Tour and Giro.”

Manzano recounted how riders paid a nurse whose nickname was the Paloma Blanca (white dove) to transport the doping products between hotels to avoid detection from police and racing officials.

“She was paid 27,000 euros to do this. Each cyclist paid 3000 euros,” he said. “She carried EPO, testosterone, synthetic hemoglobin from hotel to hotel.”

Manzano collapsed in stage seven into the Alps during the 2003 Tour de France. Valverde, however, did not make his Tour debut until 2005 when he was racing with Caisse d’Epargne.

The latest Manzano declarations come in the face of mounting pressure that Valverde could be among the nearly 60 riders implicated in the Operación Puerto doping scandal. There’s speculation that bags of blood and codenames could match Valverde, though Spanish authorities never publicly made the link.

Valverde’s Caisse d’Epargne team has repeatedly denied any connection between their star rider and the Puerto scandal, which threatens to overwhelm the Tour de France for the second year in a row.

Last year, nine riders from four teams were kicked out ahead of the Tour after alleged links to the Puerto investigation. Some believe that Valverde and other riders could face the same fate this year.

Vuelta a España director Víctor Cordero said he doesn’t think Valverde will be removed from the Tour.

“The Tour hasn’t said it doesn’t want Valverde, but what they don’t want is that any racer implicated in Operación Puerto starts the Tour this year,” Cordero told EFE. “They’ve asked that the teams apply the Ethic’s Code that they themselves have created. To me, it’s not fair to make decisions based on rumors.”

Valverde has admitted that he knows Fuentes from his racing days from 2002-04 at Kelme, when Fuentes was the team doctor. He’s strongly denied he worked with the controversial Spanish doctor as part of any doping conspiracy. Valverde said he would give DNA samples if requested by a Spanish court.

Valverde, meanwhile, continues his preparations for the Tour. He’s scheduled to race next week at the Dauphiné Libéré and completed a training camp last week in the Pyrenees.

Caisse d’Epargne teammate Joaquín Rodríguez told the Spanish daily El Mundo that Valverde is “calm” in the face of growing speculation.

“The truth is that Alejandro appears to be very tranquil. He has things very clear and only thinks about his work,” Rodríguez. “He transmits that calmness to the rest of us and we are motivated to work. He’s concentrated on doing a good job and the comments haven’t made him nervous or put him off-balance.”

Caisse d’Epargne boss José Miguel Echavarri met with sponsors and Tour officials last month to say that Valverde wasn’t involved.

Riis’s name erased from official Tour history
Bjarne Riis will disappear from official Tour de France publications.

That’s according to a report in The Guardian newspaper, where Tour organizer Christian Prudhomme said the Dane’s name will not appear in official Tour record books following his recent confessions he used banned doping products to win the 1996 Tour.

“Formally it’s down to the (UCI) to disqualify him, but for us, he can no longer be the winner and he has already been wiped from the road book [the official press guide] you will see at the start of the Tour,” Prudhomme told reporter William Fotheringham.

Riis became the first Tour winner to confess to using illegal performance-enhancing doping products. An existing eight-year statute of limitations will allow him to officially keep the title, but Tour officials said they would not recognize the victory as legitimate.

UCI officials publicly asked Riis to return the maillot jaune. In a May 25 press conference, Riis said: “My jersey is at home in a cardboard box. They are welcome to come and get it. I have my memories for myself.”

“His name will not be at the top of the page and below we will put that, following his confession, he cannot be considered the winner of that Tour,” Prudhomme continued.

The comments came as Prudhomme appeared alongside London mayor Ken Livingstone to promote the July 7 Grand Départ of the Tour in London.

CONI preparing ‘Oil for Drugs’ case
Italy’s anti-doping authorities are preparing to move forward with the so-called “Oil for Drugs” investigation that could implicate riders from the recently completed Giro d’Italia.

The Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport reported Tuesday that charges could be leveled against Eddy Mazzoleni, the third-place finisher at last week’s Giro d’Italia, as part of the doping investigation dating back to 2003 that allegedly includes up to 100 people involved in various sports.

Officials from the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) decided to reactivate the case following the admissions by 2006 Giro champion Ivan Basso that he was involved with Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes.

Anti-doping prosecutor Ettore Torri ordered surprise urine and blood doping controls on Mazzoleni, eventual overall champ Danilo Di Luca, Gilberto Simoni and Riccardo Riccò following the grueling climbing stage to Tre Cime. Di Luca was previously cleared of any links to the “Oil for Drugs” investigation.

Some 16,000 pages of police evidence were culled during the investigation in 2003. Action could come as soon as next week, La Gazzetta reported.