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Apparently Spain has a doping problem - and it's being whipped into shape by 'Operacion Grial'.

Forget Operacion Puerto and Eufemiano Fuentes - that was so 2006. Now it's all about some doping doctor called Walter Viru, lord of the latest ring.

Recent raids by the Spanish Civil Guard led to the arrests of 11 individuals, one of whom has been identified as Peruvian physician and former Kelme team doctor, Mr Viru (no doubt already tagged 'Gollum' or 'Smeagol' by crass cycling bloggers all over the world).

One of the other men arrested is a professional cyclist from Murcia with the initials P.J.V.A - that's funny, BS thought his initials would have been A.V.B. - who stands responsible for distributing EPO, CERA, the little-known drug Cake and the kind of growth hormones responsible for the size of Ivan Drago from Rocky IV's muscles, not to mention the generously filled lunchbox of at least one former Olympic short-distance sprinter.

The first thing that strikes BS is the name of this new operation. Presumably the hapless Spanish officials tagged it 'Grail' because the quest against doping is the object of a prolonged endeavour (one which in Spain seems to get swept under the carpet and prioritised firmly after 'siesta' and 'manana' in the grand scheme of things).

It's no secret that most doping roads lead to Spain - via a quick stop off in Rome chez Di Luca - and that once in Spain, all or many of those paths eventually come back to chateau Kelme.

It also strikes BS as a bit rum that the Guardia Civil can try to enforce a crackdown on doping while the Spanish cycling authorities sit back and see a convicted offender not only ride, but win their national tour. But maybe that's just why BS has little faith in Grail going the distance.

Indeed, it should come as little surprise that - according to former Spanish pro-turned-whistleblower Jesus Manzano - Viru's clinic is, in fact, one of the Spanish laboratories accredited by the UCI in the fight against doping.

It turns out that our inside man Viru allegedly got his colleagues to test vials of Russian EPO before distributing them to his clients. And in the words of the Big Lebowski: "Don't f*** with the Jesus".

Bradley Wiggins got it right when he Tweeted: "What a load of rubbish this Operation Grail is. It'll go on for two years and no names will be released and no one will be charged!"

Like Puerto, Grail's bucket will be punctured with holes until all the water flows out. It will drag on, get partly covered up and lead to not much except the burning at the stake of a few key offenders, viruses such as Viru.

And meanwhile, the ring's power - certainly over other sports such as tennis and football - will get stronger and stronger.

But the hope remains that maybe, like Alejandro Valverde, it will finally go the distance and emerge victorious.

KAZAKH COUP: The most tedious will-they-won't-they saga of the close season came to a conclusion on Wednesday when the UCI finally approved the registration of the Astana team for 2010 - much to the dismay of Alberto Contador, who will now no doubt be enforced to invoke one of those many get-out clauses in his contract if he wants any chance of beating a 38-year-old veteran come next July.

The UCI's decision came after Nikolai Proskurin, deputy president of the Kazakh Cycling Federation (KCF), had claimed that the forces that were working to exclude Astana from competing.

"It seems to me that the UCI don't want an Asian team in the ProTour, and for it to beat European teams," said Proskurin, before watching a reply of Kazakhstan's European Zone World Cup 2010 qualifier against Belarus.

Astana's licence approval also comes after former manager Johan Bruyneel was forced to reject claims of sabotage following Proskurin's cavalier assertion that the Belgian had "told us he would do everything possible to ensure that they withdrew our licence".

So shocked was Bruyneel that he posted a video on YouTube and Twitter under the tag: "My reaction to false KCF accusations".

Half asleep and thinking about lunch, BS clicked on the link in the belief he'd hear just why the RadioShack head honcho had offended Kentucky Fried Chicken so much (perhaps for giving the Bargain Bucket a cold shoulder?).

Instead, there he was "to deny the fact that I would like or want to see Team Astana go away". Bruyneel added: "It's good for everyone that there are top teams and Astana are definitely one of them. I would definitely like to see them at the ProTour."

Well, Johan's wishes have been answered - and the team will be even stronger following the announcement that Oscar Pereiro, the 2006 "winner" (RIP Landis), had signed on for a year to help his compatriot to his third Tour victory next July. All's good that end's well, eh?

NEWS ROUND-UP: Cadel Evans is selling T-shirts on his website with the slogan "Don't stand on my dog!" The phrase is a reference to his outburst during the 2008 Tour in which he threatened to cut the head off a reporter who had stepped too close to his beloved mutt Molly.

Costing the princely sum of AUS $50, the blue T-shirts are "for everyone who likes, every now and then, not to take life too seriously!" The road race world champion is expected to buy a whole batch of them himself during next year's Tour.

Lampre have not been granted ProTour status, meaning Damiano Cunego may have to look elsewhere if he wants to put in his usual bonk-and-stage-win in one of the three major tours next season. Or he could sit tight and wait for the UCI to change its mind on reflection - like it did with Astana.

Manxman Mark Cavendish may not be on the roster of new British team Sky but he's had an indirect positive effect on Dave Brailsford's men after it emerged that Scandinavians Edvald Boasson Hagen and Thomas Lovkvist left Columbia-HTC because of the team's emphasis on its two top sprinters, Cav and Andre Greipel.

Elsewhere, soup-spitter Paul Kimmage (interviewer of the year, no less) managed to write another navel-gazing piece about himself and just how good and clever he is when sending text messages, masquerading as an interview with Brailsford, in last weekend's Sunday Times.

And below, our own Paul Kimmage, Peter Joachim or James (or whatever pseudonym he's taking this week) will do the same, filling up the comment section with his tired tripe and bitter accusations, while we will press the thumbs-down button and think of something else, such as why is the French expression "etre de la pedale" used to denote homosexuality?

Follow Blazin' Saddles throughout the day on www.twitter.com/saddleblaze where you can suggest your best bike songs such as We Have All the Time in LeMond', I Can't Live Without Feillu' and Head Shoulders Theunisse and Toes'.

Felix Lowe / Eurosport