"What can be seen from the outside is that there is an absolute boycott" - Marino Lejarreta believes that the UCI has done the same with Nairo Quintana as it did with Manolo Saiz

Marino Lejarreta, Spanish cycling legend of the eighties and nineties, has granted a very interesting interview to the Jot Down colleagues in which he recalls his entire career. In it, he talks about the time when Manolo Saiz was sanctioned by the UCI for the Operación Puerto. The 'Junco de Berriz' wanted to compare the sanction of his former manager in the ONCE team with the one currently suffered by Nairo Quintana.

At that time Manolo Saiz was in the midst of a fight against the Tour de France to try to take away certain privileges that the French race had. His goal was to amplify the sport, to promote what later became the World Tour:

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"Manolo wanted to do something different, to take a lot of power away from the Tour, and they were furious with him. When Operation Puerto came out, it was very good for them. They had already removed the cancer they had, because the Tour was losing power. Until then they imposed the cars, they imposed the bidons... they did what they wanted. You couldn't take the car you wanted, you couldn't take your own team's jerry cans. They were all Coca-Cola. They took care of everything and it was very good, but in terms of publicity you lost a lot of possibilities. With the Pro Tour, the teams got together and cut some of the privileges that the Tour had.

He believes that it suited the UCI and the Tour de France organizers very well that Saiz was involved: "Manolo Saiz was a pain in the ass for many people and they didn't know how to get rid of him. I'm not saying that it wasn't the way it was, it's complicated to talk about that issue, but if it had been someone else, maybe it wouldn't have been the same. Since Manolo was involved, they thought it was the best thing that could have happened to them."

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And that is where the parallel with Nairo Quintana appears. Manolo Saiz is not sanctioned and could lead a cycling team. Obviously, the UCI is not going to give him any license, so for all practical purposes it is as if he were sanctioned. It is the same thing that is happening right now, according to Lejarreta, with Nairo Quintana:

"He can perform any function, but if he tries to do so, he will surely be cut off in some way. If tomorrow he had a sponsor like Ineos, for example, they would surely not let him leave. It is like the case of Nairo Quintana. I don't know what has happened, there must be something, but what you can see from the outside is that there is an absolute boycott, that nobody wants him".