Manuel Beltrán (Liquigas) (Image credit: Cyclingnews.com)
Spaniard Manuel Beltrán has been banned from competing in France for two years after he failed a doping test at this year's Tour de France, according to AFP. The French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD), which oversaw all testing at this year's Tour, has made Beltrán's ban effective immediately.
The 37-year-old cyclist tested positive for EPO at this year's Tour, and will be ineligible for the next two editions of cycling's premiere race. The French agency oversaw all testing at this year's Tour, and caught six riders using two forms of EPO.
Beltrán's former team Liquigas is suing Beltrán for damages based on Tour positives, due to the breaking of a contract that had anti-doping wording.
"I heard from him [after the Tour] because there is a lawsuit pending," Liquigas Team Manager Roberto Amadio told Cyclingnews. "We opened it, it is in the lawyers hands and still ongoing. There is no longer a relation between us, it is only between our lawyers. Nothing else is left."
Pierre Bordry, AFLD director, said Beltrán and the International Cycling Union have been notified of the ban, and that he expects the sport's governing body to uphold it in its competitions by applying the World Anti-Doping Agency's code.
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