Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme welcomed Tom Boonen to this year's Tour de France at a meeting today in Paris despite the Belgian cyclist's positive test for cocaine in April. The winner of this year's Paris-Roubaix and six Tour de France stages had threatened legal action if forbidden to race.
Tour organisers Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) prohibited Boonen last month from racing the Tour de France, July 4 to 26.
Boonen tested positive for cocaine in an out of competition control on April 27. It was the third occasion he tested positive for cocaine. He missed the Tour de France in 2008 because of his second cocaine positive.