Published: July 03, 2009 10:20 am      

Armstrong under doping watch at Tour

PARIS (AP) — France's sports minister says Lance Armstrong will be "particularly monitored" in anti-doping checks at the Tour de France this year.

Roselyne Bachelot, speaking in an interview on French cable TV on Friday, sent the warning to the seven-time Tour winner who has come out of retirement to race again in cycling's showcase.

"The (doping) controls will be multiplied, and I tell Lance Armstrong that he will be particularly, particularly, particularly monitored," Bachelot told i-Tele.

The American has denied having taken banned substances during his cycling career.

The head of France's anti-doping agency, which is working with cycling's governing body UCI on doping checks for the race, has said Armstrong will be treated like any other rider regarding drug testing.

The International Cycling Union, responding to the damage done to the sport by continual drug and cheating scandals, is planning more than 500 doping checks at this year's Tour.

"There needs to be a really very, very active fight against doping," Bachelot said. "The organizers know how much a positive doping test could have harmful effects."

The three-week race starts Saturday in Monaco.