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Free and clear All Tour de France riders pass blood tests
Posted: Saturday July 03, 1999 10:59 AM
LE PUY DU FOU, France (Reuters) -- All 180 riders on the Tour de France start list were given the go-ahead after blood tests before the race's prologue on Saturday. No rider was found with a hematocrit level above the limit of 50 percent imposed by the International Cycling Union. The hematocrit level is considered a sign that a rider may have taken the banned hormone erythropoietin, which enhances oxygen in the blood. According to UCI rules, a rider with a level of over 50 percent is forced to rest for two weeks. Two riders, Javier Ochoa and Nicola Loda, had failed blood tests at the start of the recent Giro d'Italia. Last year's Tour and Giro winner Marco Pantani of Italy also failed such a blood test the day before the finish of the Giro he looked poised to win. In a bid to fight doping, organizers pledged that tests would be more frequent and more efficient on the Tour this year, with random tests aimed at teams suspected by the UCI of doping practices. At the request of French cycling federation doctor Armand Megret, UCI officials were asked to look for other data than just the hematocrit level in Saturday's tests. UCI sources said one rider's test had first looked abnormal but further testing had cleared him. His name was not disclosed. The Tour starts with a 6.8 kms time trial later on Saturday around the medieval theme park of Le Puy du Fou.
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