Outcome of Operation Puerto appeals expected to be announced in January

Eufemiano Fuentes received a one-year suspended sentence for endangering public health in the initial case ©Getty Images

Madrid’s Provincial Court are expected to publish their verdict on the appeals made against the destruction of evidence from the criminal trial of Eufemiano Fuentes in the anti-doping case known as "Operation Puerto" next month.

The doctor had been found to have provided blood doping to several of the world's leading cyclists, with the case stemming following a police raid in 2006 in which more than 200 frozen bags of blood and plasma were seized from his clinic in the Spanish capital.

Fuentes received a one-year suspended sentence for endangering public health in the way he performed blood extractions and transfusions.

Doping was not considered an offence in Spain at the time.

Trainer Ignacio Labarta was sentenced to four months in prison, while three other co-accused - Eufemiano's sister Yolanda Fuentes, Vicente Belda and Manolo Saiz - cleared.

During the case, Fuentes had offered to name the athletes he had helped gain an illegal advantage, although this was not deemed necessary by the court, with the case focusing on medical practices rather than doping.

Following the trial, Judge Julia Patricia Santamaria ruled the blood bags and other evidence would be destroyed rather than handed over to anti-doping authorities.

A series of appeals against the verdict were launched following the decision, including from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the International Cycling Union (UCI), the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) and the Spanish Cycling Federation.

The UCI and the WADA wanted to examine the bags and attempt to find out which athletes had been doped by Fuentes.

Self-confessed American drugs cheat Tyler Hamilton admitted to visiting the Madrid clinic during his career ©Getty Images

According to Spanish newspaper newspaper El Pais, the First Section of the Provincial Court of Madrid were expected to come to a decision on whether to overturn the initial decision to destroy the blood bags at the close of November, with the verdict due to be announced in January.

Sanctions against athletes involved, should the appeals prove successful, appear doubtful due to the time between elapsed between the start of the case and its conclusion.

Only a small number of cyclists involved have been outed, with top players from tennis, football and other high profile sports also alleged to have been a part of the doping ring.

The outcome of the case proved detrimental to Madrid’s bid for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games and contributed to them being eliminated in the first round of voting at the 125th International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Buenos Aires two years ago after losing a runoff against Istanbul.

Japan’s capital city Tokyo eventually emerged as the clear winners.

In addition to the outcome in the Operation Puerto appeals case, the second half of WADA's Independent Commission report into doping in athletics is also expected to be published in January.