Tour samples to be retested for blood transfusions (1st Lead)

Oct 8, 2008, 11:37 GMT

Hamburg - Tour de France doping samples will be retested for illegal blood transfusions which could reveal further drug cheats at the famed race.

The head of the French anti-doping agency AFLD, Pierre Bordry, told German state network ZDF on Wednesday that a new method to detect blood transfusions is currently being developed.

He said that samples from around 30 riders, who had abnormal blood levels at the start of the July race, will be retested.

'We have already received strong hints of blood doping cases. We won't be able to say until a later date whom that involves,' Bordry told ZDF.

'Soon we will be able to detect blood transfusions and we will then conduct retests.'

The statement comes after retests for CERA (Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator), saw three riders test positive for this latest generation of the blood booster EPO: Riccardo Ricci, Leonardo Piepolo (both Italy) and Stefan Schumacher (Germany).

Ricco already tested positive for CERA during the Tour and is banned from competition.

The newly developed CERA test was also conducted among the riders with abnormal levels. The AFLD was responsible for the anti-doping programme at the 2008 Tour.

Earlier Friday, the AFLD confirmed in a statement that Schumacher tested positive for CERA, on July 3 and July 15.

The AFLD said that it has informed the ruling cycling body UCI, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and Germany's anti-doping agency NADA about the positive findings.

Schumacher won both individual time trials at the Tour and was the overall leader of the race for two days.

Schumacher, who is yet to comment on the positive tests, faces a two-year ban if found guilty of doping. The German cycling federation BDR and NADA have launched investigations, with the BDR on Monday giving Schumacher a five-day deadline to explain himself.

He has been suspended by his Gerolsteiner team.