Eurosport abandons Heppner

The Eurosport TV network has dropped former Telekom rider Jens Heppner from its commentary team at this year's Tour de France following the spate of recent doping confessions from his former team-mates.

Eurosport said it had no reason to believe that Heppner, who now serves as a directeur sportif for Professional Continental squad Wiesenhof, had ever been involved with performance enhancing drugs but nonetheless decided the relationship was not in its best interests.

Heppner spent 11 seasons with Telekom, from 1992 to 2002, but has denied any involvement in the doping practices recently revealed by Bjarne Riis, Erik Zabel and Rolf Aldag, among others.