INTERVIEW | Former Kelme mechanic hits back at Vicente Belda: "They were all doping, I had to go through the Pyrenees with a cooler with bags of blood"

Vicente Belda, one of the most recognizable figures of Spanish cycling, is back in the limelight after the publication of his autobiography which discussed Miguel Ángel López' demise and the Kelme doping scandal. A former staff member of the Spanish team, confided in anonymity to CiclismoAlDia the widespread use of illegal methods and more.

In the autobriography, in addition to reviewing his entire career, he touches on the most controversial issues of his past: Jesus Manzano, Operation Puerto, Nairo Quintana or the latest case in which he has been involved, that of Miguel Angel Lopez and Operation Ilex.

Belda says he is not guilty of anything he has been accused of over the years and, among other things, he once again makes a mockery of ex-rider Jesús Manzano, who in a series of articles in AS in March 2004 denounced widespread doping in the peloton some time after being fired from Kelme.

CiclismoAldia have spoken with a former Kelme mechanic of those years who, under anonymity - and visibly disagreeing with what Belda said in his book - and in a recent interview in Marca, wanted to give a completely opposite version of the facts, starting with the accusations to Manzano of having "many drugs" in his possession:

"When you hear Vicente say that Manzano had a box of drugs it sounds to me like that's a lie, the kid was not like he paints him." He explains that Manzano's version of the doping practices allegedly directed by Vicente Belda and Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes is completely true: "I can attest that Jesús Manzano did not tell any lies. At Kelme they were all doping".

He says that he saw the activity of doctors from the very beginning: "The pre-season was being prepared in Santa Pola, in Alicante, in mid-January, and I was already seeing several doctors, among them Eufemiano [Fuentes], his sister and Walter Virú".

The former Kelme mechanic assures us that the cyclists paid for annual treatments by Eufemiano Fuentes: "Before the Vuelta a Mallorca, a lot of cash was handled... about 30,000 euros for the annual special preparation, I think I remember. And, mind you, these treatments were not only for Kelme riders, but also for riders from other teams.

Travel through the Pyrenees

In addition to being a mechanic, our interviewee claims to have had other roles in the Kelme team: "Months before the start of the Tour I had to go to an airport, rent a car without advertising and do the route of the Catalan Pyrenees without entering France with a cooler. Always in hotels facing Spain. They told me that the important thing was not to run out of ice in the fridge. The car didn't have the team's advertising on it."

He explains that he saw the contents of these alleged coolers: "I saw the bags of blood with engraved initials and some very fat vials". And he points to the one he believes was to blame for what was happening: "Vicente (Belda) always made the same idea clear: I don't want to see anyone at the back of the peloton. He was the architect of that because he coerced the riders: I'm not going to force you to take it but I don't want to see you at the back of the peloton. He coerced them because if not at the end of the year they would be left without a team".

Regarding the alleged transfusions, he claims to have seen them in a hotel, opening a door out of confusion: "They didn't call me in Operation Puerto: they didn't call mechanics, the masseurs... Eufemiano didn't go to the races, it was the masseurs who had to do their job."

He concludes by talking about something that used to happen before many time trials in which the team participated. He states that he does not know the substance, but he does know what it was called, something that Jesús Manzano talked about in his day: "When there was a time trial all the cyclists went through the coach and were injected with gas bus. I don't know what the product was, I know the nickname was gas bus."

These statements by the former Kelme assistant mechanic come in response to the interview conducted by Vicente Belda in Marca on the occasion of the publication of his autobiography.