The doping scandal that fired up in the world of cycling about a week ago is making its first victims. Considering that the Tour of Italy was taking place in the same time, and many of those involved were part of the competition, the investigations concerning the "Manolo Sainz case" were somehow put behind by the sports media. Well, now that the Giro ended, and especially with the latest news about it, doping may prove to be, once again, a great threat to the world of cycling.

Maybe you find it to be a little harsh. Well, it's not, as long as two of the most impressive cyclists in the world of the sport seem to be involved - Jose Enrique Gutierrez and Oscar Sevilla - in the scandal.

After managing a great performance on his own - or not - in the latest Tour of Italy, Gutierrez is now facing serious charges. Thanks to a taped phone conversation found by the Spanish investigators, Eufemio Fuentes - the doctor from whom this whole scandal started in the first place, after being caught providing cyclists with banned substances - orders Manolo Sainz: "send the Buffalo [the nickname of Gutierrez] to me".

And the team manager from Liberty Seguras did that. The result? Three weeks after that conversation, Jose Enrique Gutierrez - whom no one was giving a chance to finish Il Giro in the top three positions - finished 2nd overall, almost 10 minutes off the pace of Ivan Basso.

Oscar Sevilla was caught by surveillance cameras entering the clinic center of Fuentes, along with Santiago Botero (Liberty) and Jose Gutierrez. Sevilla's team, T-Mobile, replied immediately in the media, stating that: "Oscar Sevilla has nothing to do with this scandal. He admitted to me and to all of his teammates that he went there, but only because his personal doctor has an office in the same building, that's all".
Still, the Spanish police have quickly initiated an investigation. If it will be proved that Sevilla has been in any way involved in all of this - as Botero - the T-Mobile officials stated that they will take immediate actions. "Until then, we are giving a full credit to Oscar. We think he is innocent", said Ludwig.