Wired News: "There were no tests to detect EPO, a drug that increases
the level of red blood cells, in 1999. However, samples from
the 1999 Tour de France were kept and have been recently
retested by a specialist doping laboratory in Chatenay-Malabry
outside Paris.
The World Anti-doping Agency (WADA)-accredited lab, which
developed the test to detect EPO, started retesting last year
samples that had taken between 1998 and 1999 and frozen. The
new tests were part of scientific research.
L'Equipe published what it claimed to be a results sheet
from the lab which appeared to show six figures revealing
traces of EPO.
The newspaper said the document had been sent by the lab to
the French Sports Minister on Monday.
'My first conclusion is that sportsmen who want to cheat
will now be under permanent pressure anywhere in the world,'
French Sports Minister Jean-Francois Lamour told French radio.
'Those who cheat are not safe. This is sad but it's also a
great step forward for the fight against doping,' he added.
The laboratory and Tour de France officials declined to
comment."