Published: July 18, 2008 06:31 am         

Tour de France in turmoil again because of doping

NARBONNE, France (AP) — Tour-moil. Drug scandals have grown so rampant at cycling’s big event that they deserve their own word.

Officials at the Tour de France scrambled Thursday to limit fallout from the third doping bust in this year’s race, which netted the biggest name yet: Italian star Riccardo Ricco, a winner of two stages.

“You can’t believe that a wave of a magic wand can change the world of cycling,” Patrice Clerc, head of Tour organizer ASO, told a news conference. “It’s going to take time.”

Ricco was expelled from the race, detained by police to the boos of onlooking cycling fans, and his Saunier Duval team pulled out of the Tour and suspended all of its activities.

The cyclist was held overnight, and the state prosecutor for the town of Foix, Antoine Leroy, said he was to question Ricco later Friday. Leroy said he would ask a judge to file preliminary charges against Ricco for “use of poisonous substances,” and he added that “interesting things” had been found in a search of Ricco’s hotel room. He did not elaborate.

The disclosure of drug use, as is often the case in cycling, overshadowed the racing. The 12th stage was won by Mark Cavendish of Britain, while Cadel Evans of Australia retained the yellow jersey.

“May the cheaters get caught. May they go away,” Tour president Christian Prudhomme said. “I said to the riders before the race, behind closed doors, that you have the key. ... Some didn’t get the message.”

Evans said he welcomed the drugs busts, and “that the sport is being cleaned up in a serious, fair and transparent way. Our sport is being crucified for doing the right thing.”

As the stage got under way, Evans rode alongside the car of the Tour director, and said: “’Rest assured, we’re on the road toward a clean sport,”’ Prudhomme told The Associated Press.

Ricco, 24, became the third rider in this race to test positive for the performance enhancer EPO — cycling’s drug of choice. He tested positive after the fourth stage, a time trial in Cholet.

“It’s just amazing. It’s irresponsible,” said David Millar, a British rider with the Garmin-Chipotle team. “This guy does not have any love or care for the sport.”

“We are learning that things that look too good to be true are too good to be true,” said Millar, who rode with Saunier Duval last year, and has become a leading critic of drug use after serving a two-year doping ban.

The Saunier Duval bus was later detained by gendarmes, and its contents were inspected, Leroy said.

Pierre Bordry, the head of the French anti-doping agency, announced Ricco’s positive result just before the stage. Some of Ricco’s teammates had already taken the starting line before returning to the team bus to leave.

“It’s a team decision not to start the race,” Saunier Duval sporting director Matxin Fernandez said. “He’s our leader. We can’t act as if nothing happened.”

Prudhomme didn’t hide his disgust about Mauro Gianetti, the team director at Saunier Duval, saying, “Assuredly, I have the feeling that (the team’s) manager isn’t yet in great virtue.”

Ricco, the Giro d’Italia runner-up, won the sixth and ninth stages of this Tour and was ninth overall entering Thursday. He was 2 minutes, 29 seconds behind Evans.

The case was at least the ninth doping-related scandal at the last two Tours. Among those last year, Alexandre Vinokourov tested positive for a blood transfusion, Cristian Moreni was caught using testosterone, and Iban Mayo — also with Saunier-Duval — tested positive for EPO, though he was later cleared by the Spanish cycling federation.

Two years ago, American rider Floyd Landis was stripped of his title after using synthetic testosterone.

Ricco had come under suspicion about what he says is his naturally high hematocrit level — the volume of red blood cells. High hematocrit levels can suggest EPO use but do not confirm it.

Following his victory in the ninth stage, Ricco said he has had high hematocrit levels “ever since I was little,” adding, “I hope soon that everybody will stop speaking about that.”

Ricco’s popularity in Italy rocketed with his two stage wins, drawing front-page coverage in the soccer-focused Gazzetta dello Sport.

The rider has said his idol was Marco Pantani, who in 1998 became the last Italian to win the Tour. Pantani faced doping allegations throughout his career. He died of a cocaine overdose in 2004.

Ricco’s ouster came as judicial officials continued to question Spanish rider Moises Duenas Nevado, who was expelled from the race Wednesday. Duenas Nevado was detained by police in Tarbes, at a hotel where his Barloworld team was staying. Police also searched his hotel room.

Gerard Aldige, the state prosecutor in Tarbes, told the AP that police found “numerous small medical materials like syringes, needles and medical drip bags, which theoretically a cyclist should not have in his room.”

Aldige said Duenas Nevado, who was released Thursday, faces preliminary criminal charges for “holding and using poisonous substances or plants” and “prohibited importing of merchandise.”

Also found were capsules and gels, but their composition must be tested, Aldige said. He said one medicine not authorized for sale in France was uncovered, though he did not elaborate.

Liquigas team rider Manuel Beltran, a former teammate of seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong, was kicked out of the Tour and sent home to Spain on July 11.

“I’m glad they got caught. The Tour needs to continue and get to the finish in Paris,” International Cycling Union president Pat McQuaid said by phone. “It’s another blow to the sport, but I have to see it in light of the fact that they’re getting caught and going to be thrown out.”

In Thursday’s stage, Cavendish led a group sprint to the finish, completing a 104.7-mile ride from Lavelanet to Narbonne. Evans, trailing in the main pack, leads Frank Schleck of Luxembourg by 1 second and Christian Vande Velde of the United States by 38. It was Cavendish’s third stage victory this year.

“Every time it’s special,” Cavendish said.

Cavendish, a Team Columbia rider who had never won a stage before this year, was followed by Sebastien Chavanel of France in second place, with Gert Steegmans of Belgium third.

The race moves along the Mediterranean on Friday for the 13th stage, a 113.1-mile ride from Narbonne to Nimes.