'Tour must regain its credibility'

The Tour de France has been wounded by doping scandals and must now work to restore its image, according to race director Christian Prudhomme.

"Of course the Tour has been damaged," Prudhomme told French daily Le Monde. "But it is strong. What other event could resist what's happening the way it has?"

American Floyd Landis tested positive for testosterone on his way to victory in last year's race and is unlikely to learn the outcome of his doping hearing before this year's Tour, in which he will not take part, starts from London on July 7.

Cycling's greatest event suffered another blow last month when Dane Bjarne Riis, the 1996 winner, said he had used banned drugs between 1993 and 1998.

"The Tour must regain its credibility and its dignity," Prudhomme said, adding that only riders who fully accept the anti-doping rules would be allowed to compete.

"We will oppose the presence at the start of the Tour of any rider who will not have signed the International Cycling Union's anti-doping charter," he said.