More drugs cheats expected as Tour testing continues

French drugs testers are continuing to screen samples from riders who competed in this year's Tour de France and expect to announce more positive results despite the race ending three months ago.

"The tests are still underway, they are not all done yet," French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) head Pierre Bordry told Reuters yesterday.

"I imagine there could be one or two more cases," race director Christian Prudhomme added, in a week when two Tour riders were exposed as drugs cheats.

On Monday, Italy's Leonardo Piepoli and Germany's Stefan Schumacher were both revealed to have tested positive for CERA (Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator), a new generation of banned blood-booster.

The positive tests are the result of the AFLD retroactively testing blood samples for the new type of erythropoietin (EPO).

The Chatenay-Malabry laboratory has developed a more effective blood test to find CERA, which had been difficult to detect through urine samples.

The Lausanne lab, which is also approved by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), has implemented another test for CERA and Bordry said it was also used to analyse blood samples from the Tour.

"We are testing samples from July 3, 4 and 15," he said, adding there was no room for error.

"They are all tested by the Chatenay-Malabry lab, which is the official AFLD lab, but also in Lausanne, as a guarantee."

Bordry added that Schumacher, Piepoli and his compatriot Riccardo Ricco, who failed a urine test during the Tour, had two samples re-tested.

"For all of them, both samples were positive for CERA," he said.

During the Tour, Ricco, Spaniards Moises Duenas Nevado, Manuel Beltran, Kazakh Dmitri Fofonov and France's Jimmy Casper failed tests, although the latter was cleared by the French federation last month.

"Police seem to be ahead of thieves, which is something we could not have imagined a few years back," Prudhomme said.

"Those who have cheated must tell themselves that they will get caught."