Latest Cycling News

STUTTGART, Germany (AP) _ Spain's government and the national federation are not doing enough to contain cycling's drug culture, the leader of the sport's world governing body said Monday. ``The biggest problem we have in doping and cycling comes from Spain,'' UCI president Pat McQuaid said in an interview with The Associated Press. ``There seems to be a reluctance to completely clean the problem out in Spain.'' Speaking two days before the start of the world championships ...

CASTELSARRASIN, France (AP) _ Daniele Bennati of Italy won the 17th stage of the Tour de France and Alberto Contador of Spain became the new overall leader Thursday, a day after Michael Rasmussen was sent home for lying to his team in another devastating jolt to cycling's premier event. Bennati won a sprint at the end of the 188.5-kilometre trek from Pau to Castelsarrasin, as the doping-marred Tour staggered north toward its finish Sunday in Paris. Bennati, riding ...

PAU, France (AP) _ Tour de France rider Alexandre Vinokourov tested positive for a banned blood transfusion after winning last weekend's time trial, prompting his Astana team to pull out of the race. The positive test of the Kazakh rider, a one-time favourite to win cycling's premier event, dealt a heavy blow to a sport already reeling from a spate of doping scandals. ``Vino has tested positive having to do with a blood transfusion and the team is ...

ROME (AP) _ Italian cyclist Alessandro Petacchi was cleared of doping charges Tuesday by his national federation, which ruled that he used an asthma drug for legitimate medical reasons. Petacchi had registered a ``non-negative'' test for salbutamol after winning the 11th stage of the Giro d'Italia on May 23. The Italian cycling federation said it understood that the drug use was only for ``therapeutic'' needs and ``did not constitute a violation of the existing anti-doping rules.'' ``It's one ...

LOUDENVIELLE-LE LOURON, France (AP) _ Alexandre Vinokourov turned in a determined ride to win the 15th stage of the Tour de France on Monday as Michael Rasmussen held off several challenges to defend his overall lead. Rasmussen retained a two-minute, 23-second lead over Alberto Contador despite repeated attacks from the Spaniard in the last of five climbs in the stage. Cadel Evans of Australia, third overall, lost time to Rasmussen and drifted to four minutes off the ...

MONTPELLIER, France (AP) _ Tour de France leader Michael Rasmussen acknowledged Friday that he made an ``administrative error'' involving drug-testing rules that prompted his expulsion from the Danish national cycling team. Denmark's cycling federation said Thursday that Rasmussen could no longer ride with the national team at international races because he failed to report his whereabouts for drug-testing purposes. Danish federation and international rules require cyclists to keep officials informed of their whereabouts for possible unannounced doping controls. Tour de ...

BERLIN (AP) _ German Chancellor Angela Merkel has turned down a request to meet with disgraced cyclist Jan Ullrich, who retired from the sport earlier this year after being implicated in the Spanish doping scandal. One of Ullrich's friends and business partners had sent an e-mail to Merkel's staff suggesting a meeting, her office said Tuesday. The aim of the meeting would have been to ``rehabilitate'' the reputation of Ullrich and recall his merits and performances. Ullrich, the ...

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) _ Eric Zabel and Rolf Aldag, former teammates of two Tour de France winners, admitted Thursday that they took performance-enhancing drugs while riding for the Telekom team in the 1990s. Zabel, who is still active, and Aldag were support riders for the Telekom team when its top cyclists won the Tour de France _ Bjarne Riis in 1996 and Jan Ullrich in 1997. Speaking at a nationally televised news conference, Zabel and Aldag both said ...

MALIBU, Calif. (AP) _ Floyd Landis' former manager was set to enter rehab Monday, a revelation made in the hours before the Tour de France champion was to take the witness stand for what promised to be a hostile cross-examination. In a letter written by Brent Kay, Landis' new manager, and posted on the ``Trust But Verify'' blog, Kay acknowledged Will Geoghegan is ``entering a rehabilitation program today in an effort to address his problems.'' Geoghegan called Greg ...

ROME (AP) _ Rome prosecutors formally opened a criminal investigation into allegations of doping against Ivan Basso on Thursday, three days after the Giro d'Italia champion admitted involvement in the Spanish doping scandal. Basso is being investigated for the alleged use of a banned substance or method, the ANSA and Apcom agencies said. Doping is a criminal offence in Italy and carries a maximum penalty of two years in jail ...

MOUDON, Switzerland (AP) _ World cycling's top officials will stop the biggest names in the sport from competing if they are found to have committed doping offences. UCI president Pat McQuaid met Friday with Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme and Patrick Lefevere, who represents the biggest professional cycling teams, to come up with a common strategy for punishing those linked to the Spanish doping scandal. The three top officials ...

ROME (AP) _ Giro d'Italia champion Ivan Basso faces doping allegations after the Italian Olympic Committee reopened its investigation into the Spanish doping scandal. CONI summoned Basso on Tuesday to a doping hearing May 2 on charges of having used or attempted to use a banned substance or method. The 29-year-old Italian was one of 50 riders implicated in last year's Operation Puerto, which led to his exclusion from the ...

Tour de France champion Floyd Landis renewed his attack Tuesday on the credibility of the French lab that conducted follow-up tests on his backup urine samples and reportedly found traces of synthetic testosterone. ``If it's going to be objective, the least you could do is send it to a lab that doesn't have motivation to confirm their work in the first place,'' Landis said on CBS' ``Early Show.'' On Monday, ...

BERLIN (AP) _ Jan Ullrich has denied any wrongdoing despite his DNA sample being matched last week to blood bags seized in a Spanish doping scandal. Ullrich retired from cycling on Feb. 26, 10 months after his name surfaced in Operation Puerto, which led to the 1997 Tour de France champion being excluded from last year's race. He has denied using any banned substances. The German cyclist, in a statement ...

Floyd Landis' camp praised French Sports Minister Jean-Francois Lamour for requesting a postponement of next week's hearing by the country's anti-doping agency. Landis, whose urine sample for a Tour de France stage was found to contain elevated testosterone to epitestosterone levels, has been summoned to appear before a nine-member panel of the French anti-doping agency on Thursday. However, Lamour, who was speaking in his role as vice-president of the World ...

Tour de France winner Floyd Landis has been called to a hearing by the French anti-doping agency to determine whether he can race again in France. Landis, who tested positive for elevated testosterone levels during last year's Tour, did not immediately say whether he would attend the hearing in Paris on Feb. 8, officials of the French Agency Against Doping said Friday. The American cyclist, who has consistently denied allegations ...

 American cyclist Tyler Hamilton, who recently completed a two-year doping ban, has signed a one-year contract with a new Italian-Russian team. Hamilton is joining the Tinkoff Credit Systems team for the 2007 season, the team said Friday. ``We believe he is a very good athlete and the results he achieved in the past have shown it,'' team manager Omar Piscina told The Associated Press. Hamilton was suspended for two years ...

A retired medical doctor and friend of Floyd Landis is expanding his defence of the cyclist, contending a detailed analysis of documents shows the Tour de France champion did not have a positive drug test after all. Dr. Arnie Baker made the case in a slideshow presentation Friday evening at the Tucson Convention Center, headquarters of the El Tour de Tucson race scheduled for Saturday. Landis' agent Michael Henson said Landis was in Tucson to be the official ...

World Anti-Doping Agency president Dick Pound defended the French lab whose credibility is under scrutiny for its handling of Floyd Landis' samples during the Tour de France. Pound, a Montreal lawyer, said Wednesday the case against the American cyclist should not be derailed by a mistake in the labelling of his backup urine specimen and the theft of data from the lab by computer hackers. ``For me, the real problem ...

The French anti-doping lab that tested American cyclist Floyd Landis' urine samples made an ``administrative error'' when reporting its findings on his backup ``B'' sample, the French newspaper Le Monde reported Wednesday. The newspaper cited unnamed sources as saying the Chatenay-Malabry laboratory gave the wrong number in its report about Landis' second sample. Tests on the rider's two samples indicated that Landis had elevated levels of testosterone in his system ...

Two weeks after being cleared of doping allegations, Giro d'Italia champion Ivan Basso appears set to join the Discovery Channel cycling team. ``It's done,'' Lance Armstrong, a seven-time Tour de France champion and former Discovery leader, was quoted in Wednesday's Gazzetta Dello Sport. ``We've reached an agreement.'' The 28-year-old Basso signed a three-year deal worth about US$6 million, according to the report. The deal will be formally announced later Wednesday ...

 A new book published in France on Thursday alleges seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong and his entourage intimidated witnesses, including former teammate Frankie Andreu, in a high-stakes court case. The book ``L.A. Official'' by Pierre Ballester and David Walsh, who wrote ``L.A. Confidential: The Secrets of Lance Armstrong'' in 2004, is based on testimony given in a legal dispute between Armstrong and Dallas-based SCA Promotions that had a ...

Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich, still fighting doping allegations, has quit the Swiss cycling federation and is looking for another racing licence for next year. Ullrich said on his website Thursday that he was leaving Swiss Cycling because of what he called its ``slanderous attitude'' toward him. ``(This) doesn't mean that I am ending my career. There are contacts to other cycling federations about a licence for 2007,'' ...

Lance Armstrong assailed a new book going on sale in France on Thursday as ``another baseless attack'' against the seven-time Tour de France champion. The book by Pierre Ballester and David Walsh, who wrote ``L.A. Confidential: The Secrets of Lance Armstrong'' in 2004, is based on testimony given in a legal dispute between Armstrong and Dallas-based SCA Promotions that had a bonus contract with the cyclist. The new book, ``LA Official'' evokes the ``strategies put in place by the ...

Giro d'Italia champion Ivan Basso and his Danish CSC team ended their contract by mutual agreement Wednesday. ``After all that has happened, especially this summer, Team CSC and Ivan Basso have agreed to part ways,'' CSC manager Bjarne Riis manager said in a statement. ``It has been a very difficult decision, but both parties agree it is time to move on.'' Basso was excluded from this year's Tour de France ...

Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso, looking to race again after the Italian Olympic Committee recommended that doping allegations against him be dropped, says he has been courted by Lance Armstrong's former team, Discovery Channel. ``They made me a concrete proposal but I am open to other solutions,'' the Italian rider said in an interview published Monday by French sports newspaper L'Equipe. Basso gave no details. Discovery has been looking for ...

Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich accused the Swiss cycling federation on Saturday of implying that investigations are proceeding against him in the Spanish doping scandal. The 1997 Tour champion said on his website that he is not a target of the Spanish investigation and that a press release from Swiss Cycling on Friday was misleading. The press release said, according to the German rider's website, that Swiss Cycling had received documents from Spanish investigators and now had ...

Defending champion Paolo Bettini of Italy won the Tour of Lombardy on Saturday for his 11th Pro Tour title. The 32-year-old Italian finished in six hours eight minutes six seconds _ eight seconds ahead of runner-up Samuel Sanchez of Spain and third-place Fabian Weggman of Germany. Bettini wept as he crossed the line and dedicated the victory to his brother, Sauro, who was killed in a road accident last week. ``Before, there was someone who pushed me ...

Giro d'Italia champion Ivan Basso is ready to race again after the Italian Olympic Committee recommended that doping allegations against him be dropped. ``Now my goal is to win races again,'' Basso said in sports daily Gazzetta dello Sport on Friday, a day after the Olympic body's anti-doping commission said it would ask the Italian Cycling Federation to close the case. ``I always continued to train with the aim of ...

Floyd Landis rolled out key elements of his defence against doping charges in an online presentation Thursday, several months before the cyclist is to present his case to an arbitration panel in hopes of keeping his Tour de France title. Early Thursday, Landis posted a PowerPoint presentation prepared by Arnie Baker, a retired doctor and longtime coach and adviser, as well as several hundred pages of documents related to the ...