Drug testers impose on funeral arrangements

Belgian cyclist Kevin van Impe raised strong objections to being visited by anti-doping controllers while he was making arrangements for the funeral of his infant son this week. The Quick Step rider was at a crematorium in Lochristi, Belgium when a drug tester showed up demanding the rider provide a sample, and warned that he would face a two-year suspension if he refused.

The rider, whose son Jayden had been born prematurely and died shortly after birth, asked for the tester to come back later, but, he told sport.be, "It was either do it right on the spot or it would be taken as if I had refused."

The Flemish minister for sport Bert Anciaux regretted the incident, and said he would look for ways to arrange for random tests while avoiding such circumstances..

"The law is the law, but you must take a human perspective," Anciaux told belga. "I can well understand the rider had other things on his mind at the time of the test."