Thirty riders under investigation for bio-passport results

Robin Parisotto, a blood-doping expert working for the International Cycling Union (UCI), said that more than 30 riders are under suspicion of having doped, based on their biological passports.

Interviewed on German television, he said, "The UCI has taken and examined more than 1,000 blood samples from riders for the biological passport. More than 30 are suspicious and some could face a ban." In its press release, the German sender ARD said that the blood values of some riders "clearly indicated blood doping."

Parisotto, who in 2000 developed the first blood test to detect blood booster Erythropoietin (EPO), is one of the experts analyzing the results of the riders' blood tests from the biological passport programme for the UCI. He did not indicate when any action against the riders might occur.

Anne Gripper, the UCI's anti-doping manager, announced last June that a number of riders, including one unnamed top rider, "warranted further scrutiny" based on unusual patterns in blood or urine profiles.