More Manzano Missiles (from Velonews.com)

Jésus Manzano - the ex-pro turned whistleblower on alleged widespread doping in Spanish cycling - was back in the news again this week.

The 29-year-old is a divisive figure in Spain. He often demands money for his tell-all interviews and critics say he's nothing more than a professional liar who earns a living off hurting the credibility of a sport that he wasn't good enough to make it.

Others see Manzano as a lone voice in the Iberian wilderness, as one of the few Spanish ex-pros who've publicly admitted to using banned performance-enhancing products.

Manzano continues to offer his spin on the underworld of doping in cycling and told L'Equipe in an interview this week -- ahead of a court appearance in Italy where he's helping investigators -- that he thinks Alejandro Valverde is "up to his neck" in the Operación Puerto doping scandal.

He dropped a few more bombs, too. Here are more excerpts from the Manzano interview:

When asked about Manolo Saíz, the ex-Liberty Seguros team manager who was among five people arrested last May, Manzano expressed pessimism that the cycling hasn't seen the last of the former ONCE boss.

"Don't fool yourself. He'll be back. For the moment, he's worried about recuperating his money, then he'll return," Manzano said. "After that, he'll let time pass by and then he'll begin again to find new sponsors. These new sponsors will ignore who he is and look the other way."

Manzano also accused the Spanish cycling community from being "corrupt top to bottom," leveling charges that a Spanish lab certified by the UCI tipped off teams when doctors were coming for pre-stage blood screenings.

"I want to give you an example, something I've never spoken about except to the police up until now. It concerns one of the four Spanish Laboratories credited by the UCI. This laboratory, which is in charge of sending the UCI ‘vampires' to take the samples during the Vuelta and other races, is the same lab that's in charge of the doctor visits to the cyclists, they follow the cyclists and give them the stamp of approval on their licenses," Manzano told L'Equipe. "The owner of this clinic, a renowned hematologist, called Walter Viru, who is one of the doctors for Kelme, to alert them the day before the UCI vampires were coming to take the samples from the cyclists. And he did the same thing with Del Moral, the doctor for the U.S. Postal team and then Discovery, a good friend of his."

The L'Equipe reporter asked, "Are your certain of this?"

"I experienced it in 2002 and 2003 during the Vuelta. I gave the police have all the details and the name of the clinic. Even better, I remember one time Viru, who had acquired the Russian EPO, wanted to know the purity of it before he used it. And so he gave a vile of it to this clinic and had them confirm it was good. An important detail, this laboratory is still accredited by the UCI. When I talk about the mafia, I don't use this word lightly."

Manzano went on to attest that José Maria Jimenez, who died of a heart attack in 2003, suffered a tragic death due to his dependence on performance-enhancing drugs. He said substance abuse is common among some in the peloton.

"Of course, like it killed Pantani. The drugs lead you to other addictions. The anti-depressants almost automatically accompany other doping treatments. I took up to eight pills of Prozac a day when I was racing," Manzano said. "Prozac cuts the appetite, keeps you in another world, a world where you're not afraid of what you're doing. You're no longer afraid to inject yourself with all the crap. It takes you to a world where you don't ask any more questions, especially you don't ask your doctor questions either or your sporting director. Then one day all of the sudden it stops and you become dramatically depressed. Look at Pantani, Vandenbroucke and all the others we don't even talk about. They are numerous other cyclists and former cyclists that are addicted to cocaine, heroin and other medications."

When asked how cycling can solve its problems, Manzano had an easy answer:

"Fire all the sporting directors. (Bjarne) Riis is showing the example. It's good that he admitted (to doping). Now he has to make the next step, which is to quit the sport. How can he be taken seriously? He's admitted to doping and now he wants us to believe he's going to go back to cycling and this is supposed to make us believe drugs won't be used anymore? There's only one solution - he must leave!" Manzano said. "And along with him, all the sporting directors who have been working for the past 10 years have to quit also. They're the responsible ones. The directors are the ones who blackmail the cyclists. They put pressure on the riders to take the EPO and all the drugs and the cyclists can't refuse if they want to ride for the team. These directors are the ones who prolong the system and little by little pressure the pros into it. First you go slowly, then you fall slowly, then you realize you've thrown everything away. They say to you, ‘Here's your choice: you do want we say or you're done cycling."

Manzano says he's bitter about his experiences and no longer follows the sport very closely.

"It was my dream, my life. Today I'm completely indifferent to it. How could it be otherwise? When I see Valverde, Mancebo or Sevilla win, I know what's going on. And that kills my love for the sport," he said. "Cycling is corrupt. You can see that on the side of the roads. There's nobody left cheering on the cyclists except for the Tour. Even the cows aren't duped."