Cofidis affair: French newspaper offices searched

On Thursday, January 13, several offices of the French newspapers Le Point and L'Equipe were searched simultaneously by Nanterre court investigating judges Katherine Cornier and Isabelle Prévost-Desprez in what is called the Cofidis affair. The judges' mission was to find out how some of the rider questionings and transcripts of phone calls used in the investigation had reached the editorial teams.

The affair started early last year, when Cofidis rider Philippe Gaumont was charged for doping offenses following the arrest of the team's soigneur, Bogdan Madejak. Although Cédric Vasseur has been cleared of the charges recently, Cofidis went through a difficult year as British time trial specialist David Millar also admitted the use of EPO.