Tour de France samples to undergo further anti-doping tests

The French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) said it will be re-testing several blood samples taken during the Tour de France this July. According to the Associated Press, the lab found results of urine sample tests from several riders "inconclusive" based on initial testing in Lausanne.

"I have decided that we will retest – with blood testing – all those who showed up as suspicious during the urine samples," said Pierre Bordry of the AFLD to the AP. "When we did the urine samples of those athletes, we had a serious suspicion that there was CERA [third generation of the blood boosting, performance enhancing drug EPO - ed.].

"The laboratory could not say definitively. The same analysis will be done, but in the blood samples," he said."

Samples will be returned to France, where the tests will be conducted at the Chatenay-Malabry lab. The AFLD declined to name the cyclists who had produced the suspicious samples.

Bordry estimated that the additional testing would take nor more than 10 or 15 days, which means results could be available as soon as before or during the World Championships in Italy.

Several riders tested positive during the 2008 Tour de France including Riccardo Riccò (for EPO-CERA), Manuel Beltran (for EPO) and Dmitriy Fofonov (for the stimulant heptaminol). Riccò's teammate Leonardo Piepoli also confessed to his team manager to using the same banned substance as Ricco.

Moises Dueñas Nevado secured his place on the doper's list Wednesday after his "B" sample came back positive for EPO, confirming "A" sample results. He had previously confessed to using the banned substance.