For those of you keeping score at home, this year's doping dragnet of the Tour de France has netted a total of 6 cyclists. Book 'em, Danno.
Two suspects — Germany's Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) and Italy's Leonardo Piepoli (Saunier Duval) — were disclosed Monday after French laboratory technicians retested some urine samples that had originally tested negative. [The success of the retesting has prompted the International Olympic Committee to follow suit with 1,000 samples.]
If the accusations hold true, some rewriting of the record books will be in order. Schumacher won both individual time trials from Fabian Cancellara and spent a few days in the yellow jersey. Piepoli won a mountain stage in the Pyrenees.
Both were alleged to have used a new form of EPO called Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator, or CERA. It was also the drug of choice for Riccardo Ricco, Piepoli's teammate, who was booted from the Tour for failing a drug test after winning two mountain stages.
The three CERA-using suspects accounted for five stage victories in the 2008 Tour de France. That would be a good endorsement for CERA, except for the fact it is illegal and dangerous for use by athletes.
The drug is sold by the trade name Micera by Roche Pharmaceuticals in Europe for kidney patients suffering from anemia. It's not yet available in the US.
Piepoli has been a suspect for awhile, as he was fired by his team during the Tour for “ethical issues” at the same time Ricco's doping was alleged. See Ricco and Piepoli both fired.
The other three cyclists kicked off the Tour were:
Manuel Beltran – Liquigas;
Moises Duenas – Barloworld;
Dmitri Fofonov – Credit Agricole
More at VeloNews and Yahoo Sports.
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