Wellens doping investigation officially dropped

Image 1 of 3

Cyclo-cross racer Bart Wellens has been officially cleared of suspicion of doping, a court in Tourhout informed the rider Friday.

According to the Telenet-Fidea team, Wellens's case was dropped after investigators found no evidence that his sudden illness in January had anything to do with the use of performance enhancing drugs.

Wellens was rushed to intensive care on the eve of the Belgian cyclo-cross championships in January, after he came down with a sudden high fever, heart problems and organ failure.

His team insisted the illness was a result of an infection but there were immediate reports that doping was involved. The rider recovered fully, but three weeks later, authorities searched Wellens's house for two hours taking his computer and also getting his medical records from the hospital.

Hair and blood samples taken from the rider on February 2 eventually came up negative for doping and his case was officially dropped this week.