PARIS (AP) — Battered by doping scandals for years, cycling has ratcheted up its already powerful arsenal against drugs cheats in the Tour de France.
The International Cycling Union and France’s anti-doping agency have buried past antagonisms and will jointly conduct hundreds of blood and urine tests. Last year, a urine test on three-time champion Alberto Contador turned up small traces of the banned muscle-builder clenbuterol. He has blamed the result on tanted beef.
This week, Belgian authorities detained and questioned two suspects with ties to the BMC Racing and Omega Pharma-Lotto teams over alleged cases of illegal ordering of performance-enhancing hormones.
Both teams will have riders in the Tour, which begins Saturday.
