THE Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) performed surprise doping tests on new Tour de France leader Frank Schleck and his CSC team after Sunday's stage, which concluded in Cuneo, Italy.
As many as six riders were tested at CSC's hotel, CONI confirmed without providing further details. Fifteen more surprise tests were carried out by CONI on unnamed teams yesterday morning.
Labs usually require several days to analyse doping tes
ts and no results were announced.
The Tour crossed into Italy on Sunday with a stage that ended with a climb to Prato Nevoso, during which Schleck took the overall lead from Cadel Evans. The teams remained in Italy for a rest day yesterday before today's leg which will bring the race back into France.
The French anti-doping agency is controlling drug testing at this year's Tour. CONI, which oversees doping within Italy, indicated that Sunday's tests were part of a pre-race agreement with the French authorities. The CONI tests will be examined at the committee's anti-doping laboratory in Rome, after which the results will be sent to the French agency, which would likely announce any positives.
However, if a rider is found positive, they could face ordinary court proceedings in Italy, where there is a law against doping. Three riders have been ejected from this year's Tour for doping: Spanish riders Moises Duenas Nevado and Manuel Beltran and Riccardo Ricco of Italy, who won two stages before testing positive for EPO.
Meanwhile, Schleck knows the best way to keep the yellow jersey will be to attack Cadel Evans of Australia and Denis Menchov of Russia in the next two mountain stages, and hope he has a big enough lead before the time trial.
The full article contains 291 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
