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Tuesday, 2 July, 2002, 01:25 GMT 02:25 UK
Tour moves to clean up image
Tour de France organisers have revealed new measures in the fight against drug abuse ahead of next month's race.
In a bid to keep this year's event clean, six to 10 riders will be tested each day of the Tour - and some tests will be targeted to investigate suspicious behaviours or results.
Each team and its riders will be asked to sign a strict code of conduct, while all riders at the start in Luxembourg on Saturday will be blood-tested to decide if they can start.
There will also be random tests during two rest days. In all, 90 tests will be conducted for erythropoietin - or EPO - the banned hormone that led to the scandal on the 1998 Tour. That is up from 72 last year, and organisers say it is the maximum number of tests the French laboratory they will use can handle within a month. Riders have already been facing random drugs tests in the four weeks up to the 6 July start in Luxembourg. Results are expected before the three-week race begins, and riders who fail tests will be excluded. "You can never get rid of doping and cheating in high-level sports," Patrice Clerc, a Tour organiser, said on Tuesday.
"But there is progress being made." Last year, only Spaniard Txema Del Olmo failed an EPO test and he was subsequently dropped from the Tour by his team Euskaltel. "If we have one or two positive test results, those riders will be thrown out, and the cloud of suspicion will be lifted," Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc said. Riders will also have to sign an ethical code which calls on cyclists to accept the rules of fair competition and to renounce all forms of cheating. Italian team Saeco have already been thrown out of this year's Tour de France after the positive drugs test of leading rider Gilberto Simoni.
Saeco have been replaced by French squad Jean Delatour. Lance Armstrong, the winner of the 1999, 2000 and 2001 Tours, and his US Postal Service team are currently under investigation for the use of banned substances during the 2000 race.
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See also:
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