Attorneys relinquish Contador's presence

In a reversal of previous plans, Team Saxo-Tinkoff rider Alberto Contador will not be asked to testify before the judge in the ongoing Operacion Puerto trial on Friday. The Spanish rider was scheduled to appear as a defence witness for his former directeur sportif Manolo Saiz, but the attorneys for Saiz have surrendered their request.

Saiz is currently on trial on charges of crimes against public health along with Eufemiano Fuentes. Contador was scheduled to testify alongside Marcos Serrano and Angel Vicioso on Friday.

According to EFE, the attorneys for Saiz had already established what they had hoped to get from Contador and thus chose to waive the rider’s testimony on Friday.

In a rather bizarre twist on Tuesday, the judge, Julia Patricia Santamaria, proclaimed that the court has failed to trace Vicioso, who is to appear for his scheduled appearance before the court on Friday. Vicioso's testimony was originally planned for February 12 but had been rescheduled because he was suffering from back pain. The judge warned that she wouldn’t hesitate to send security forces to bring him to court should he fail to appear voluntarily.