Riders from Liberty Seguros-Würth vow to keep racing despite the departure of the team’s title sponsor in the wake of the detention of team manager Manolo Saiz as part of a blood-doping scandal in Spain.

Officials from Liberty Seguros – the American insurance giant that sponsored the team to the tune of $8.5 million per year – formally ended association with the team’s holding company Saturday, but promised it would pay riders and staff salaries through the 2006 season.

"The agreement says that the salaries will be paid until the end of the season if we cannot find another sponsor," team spokesman Jacinto Vidarte told VeloNews. "In the next few days we will have more details on the immediate future of the team, but we have the money guaranteed for the salaries."

Liberty Seguros made the abrupt decision Thursday to end its sponsorship with Active Bay - a holding company owned by Saiz and partner Pablo Anton - after Saiz and four others were detained last Tuesday by Spanish authorities on suspicion of being part of a blood-doping ring.

Saiz was held for questioning and released Wednesday. Authorities say he was not suspected as being part of the doping ring, but rather a customer of doctors Eufemiano Fuentes and Jose Luis Merino. Both doctors have paid bail and were released this weekend.

A Madrid judge released two others involved in the investigation - Jose Ignacio Labarta and mountain-bike rider Alberto Leon - on condition that they keep themselves available for further questioning.

Vidarte said Saiz has not been formally charged with any crimes and has returned to his home in northern Spain to try to keep the team together in the wake of the shocking news.

Vidarte also said they are waiting to hear from officials on whether co-sponsor Würth will continue with the team. The German-based tool manufacturer could make a decision as soon as Monday.

Vidarte said four remaining riders will finish the Giro d’Italia on Sunday and then wait for news in the coming days. The team is scheduled to race the Bicicleta Vasca and the Dauphiné Libéré in France in early June.

"In principle, we will keep racing and those are the races that are next on our schedule," Vidarte. "In what jersey we’ll race, we still don’t know. What’s sure is that we have to remove Liberty Seguros from the jerseys, team cars and everything else."

Vidarte said the team’s riders are waiting to see what happens with the ongoing investigation and that none of the team’s roster has tried to leave to join another team.

Comunitat Valenciana stays on
A spokesman for the Valencia regional government in Spain, Esteban González Pons, told the Spanish wires that the sponsorship deal for continental team Comunitat Valenciana will continue despite the detention of assistant sports director José Ignacio Labarta.

Comunitat Valenciana – the team formerly known as Kelme – earned a surprise return to the 2006 Tour de France as a wild-card team after a two-year absence.

Ex-Kelme rider Jesus Manzano rocked Spanish cycling with revelations of widespread doping within the team in a series of paid interviews two years ago and even linked the team to José Luis Merino Batres, a hematologist and one of five people detained by Spanish officials earlier this week.

Tour officials have said it’s too soon to determine if the team will see its invitation revoked.

Team director Vicente Belda, meanwhile, told the Spanish sports daily Marca, "We are clean and free of sin."

UCI supports investigation
UCI President Pat McQuaid told Reuters that the Fuentes scandal could be the worst thing to hit cycling in a decade.

"Unfortunately it's looking like it could be the biggest doping investigation in Spain and could be along the lines of the 1998 Festina scandal," McQuaid told Reuters.

That year the Festina team was booted from the Tour de France after a large supply of drugs were found in a team car, causing top climber Richard Virenque to be banned for nine months.

"The ProTour ethics code is very clear concerning doping and people who are found guilty will be disciplined," McQuaid promised. "If it is true that 200 riders are implicated we will not be afraid to take disciplinary action against them all."