( dpa )- A court in Spain ordered Thursday the reopening of the Operation Puerto investigation into a doping ring in cycling, Spain's leading sports authority CSD said.
The case had been closed last year, but prosecutors had asked an appeals court to review the decision.
Operation Puerto was launched after raids in which police found large quantities of anabolic steroids, equipment used for blood transfusions and more than 200 bags of blood linked to more than 50 cyclists.
Riders implicated in the affair include former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich and Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso.
A court had ruled last March that Spain's new anti-doping laws could not be applied retroactively to May 2006, when the bags of frozen blood and doping equipment were seized in the raids.