In the Operation Puerto trial of Dr. Fuentes, Spanish newspapers have reported additional testimony from Tyler Hamilton.
Tyler said his positive test was someone else’s blood.
He did not mention Lance at all during his testimony.
He continued doping when he changed to the CSC team in 2002. Bjarne Riis contacted Fuentes for him. They worked together for 3 years until his positive test.
Hamilton paid Dr. Fuentes 25,000 euros in 2002, 30,000 euros in 2003 and in 2004 it was 50,000 euros for the freezing the blood which was known as Siberias.
He had different reactions to the transfusions. In the 2004 Tour he had a bad reaction to a reinfusion. He thinks the blood was possibly mishandled or damaged. He felt feverish and sick and within an hour afterwards his urine was black.
In 2004 the Phonak team’s German doctor, Thomas Klimaschka, handled everything because the hotel was surrounded by reporters and Fuentes couldn’t get in. By text message they agreed on Plan B which was for someone to pick up the bag from Fuentes and bring it to the hotel.
His relationship with Fuentes ended after the 2004 Vuelta a Espana when he tested positive for the transfusion. He was told he had someone else’s blood in his body. Or it could have been that the test was done wrong. Teammate Santi Perez was also positive and maybe either their tests were mixed or their blood had been switched.
Doping with Phonak
The team went to Madrid for transfusions. “We were in different rooms at the Hotel Puerta de Madrid, so I did not see what others were doing.” Merino did his transfusion, but Fuentes was there. I saw the blood running, but without speaking, we all knew what we were doing. Furthermore, Santi told me directly: I asked about the positive in 2004 and if anything had happened to the bags, he felt nothing unusual. “
Tyler Hamilton also recounted an episode in June 2004, he called “collective journey”, in which several members of Phonak, led by its director, Alvaro Pino, went to Madrid to undergo a transfusion before racing the Dauphine Libere.
This is the story: “I knew Santi Perez was also Eufemiano’s patient, for example we traveled together for a transfusion. It was a collective journey before the Dauphiné, with Pino, Oscar Sevilla, Santi Perez and Enrique Gutierrez. I had my reinfusion. We were clearly all there for the same reason: we travel Lyon to Madrid, spent one night, and returned to Lyon. They were very strong. Hamilton finished second, Sevilla, third, and Gutierrez sixth. Armstrong finished fourth.
