Brussels  - Belgian cyclist Frank Vandenbroucke, who was found dead in his hotel room in Senegal, did not die as the result of an act of violence, it was reported Friday.

The Belgian news agency Belga quoted Isidor Boye, a doctor who carried out a post-mortem at the Dantec hospital in Senegal's capital Dakar, as saying there was no sign of alcohol or anything to indicate violence had been used.

Toxicological examinations will be carried out in Belgium or France when the body is repatriated.

Paris - The 17 retests of samples taken from the 2008 Tour de France were negative, the head of the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD), Pierre Bordry, said Wednesday.

"Our aim is not to find something (suspicious)," Bordry told journalists in Paris.

At the conclusion of this year's Tour, the AFLD announced that it would retest the samples of 17 riders for the third-generation blood-doping substance CERA.

In 2008, no test to detect CERA, a new version of the blood booster EPO, had been available. (dpa)

Paris  - A report charges that Lance Armstrong's Astana cycling team was given "special treatment" by the International Cycling Union (UCI) during this year's Tour de France, the online edition of the daily Le Monde reported Monday.

The daily cites a report drawn up by the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) about the way doping tests were administered during the three-week race, in which Armstrong finished third. His Astana teammate Alberto Contador won the race.

According to the 10-page report, Astana riders were given "the latest morning doping tests" and did not respect the requirement to present themselves immediately to AFLD testers on at least one occasion.

La Granja, Spain  - Local hero Alejandro Valverde on Friday closed in on the overall Vuelta victory when he finished second on the 19th stage behind compatriot Juan Jose Cobo.

Australian Cadel Evans finished third on the day.

More importantly than his second place was that Valverde managed to put some distance between himself and Robert Gesink, who went into the day in second place.

Velverde also got a time bonus for finishing second and now has a lead of one minute 26 seconds from Samuel Sanchez, who moved into second past Gesink.

Avile, Spain  - Ireland's Philip Deignan on Thursday won the 18th stage of the Vuelta, beating Roman Kreuziger and Jakob Fuglsang into second and third place.

Local favourite Alejandro Valverde, who rides for the Caisse d'Epargne team, managed to hold onto the leaders' golden jersey and now has a 32 second advantage over Dutch Rabobank rider Robert Gesink.

Puertollano, Spain  - Andre Greipel of Germany secured his third stage win of this year's Tour of Spain when the Team Columbia rider claimed victory in Tuesday's 16th stage from Cordoba to Puertollano.

Greipel prevailed in a mass sprint at the end of the 170- kilometre-long stage from France's William Bonnet.

Spain's Alejandro Valverde continues to head the overall standings after finishing in the peloton to maintain his 31-second lead over Dutchman Robert Gesink and 1:10 minutes over compatriot Samuel Sanchez.

Another Spaniard Jesus Rosendo led a solo break for 140km but was caught by the pack 18km from the finish.

Caravaca de la Cruz, Spain  - American Tyler Farrar on Wednesday won the 11th stage of the Tour of Spain, with local hero Alejandro Valverde keeping the golden jersey of the overall leader.

The Garmin-Slipstream rider managed to outsprint the chasing pack at the finish, taking the victory from Belgian Philippe Gilbert, with Italian Marco Marcato third.

The American took five hours 11.10 minutes for the 200 kilometre-long stage from Murcia to Caravaca de la Cruz.

Murcia, Spain  - Australian Simon Gerrans won the 10th stage of cycling's Tour of Spain on Tuesday while Alejandro Valverde defended the golden jersey as overall leader.

Gerrans of the Cervelo team edged Ryder Hesjedal of Canada, Jakob Fuglsang of Denmark and Kazakhstan's Alexander Vinokourov in a sprint finish at the end of the
171.2-kilometre stage from Alicante to Murcia.

All posted 3 hours 56 minutes 19 seconds, 29 seconds ahead of Adam Hansen of Australia, the nearest of the pursuers.

Xorret del Cati, Spain  - Gustavo Cesar Veloso claimed the first stage win for hosts Spain on Monday and compatriot Alejandro Valverde became the new overall leader in the Tour of Spain.

The Xacobeo Galicia rider Veloso attacked on the final climb of the ninth stage, a mountain ride over 188 kilometres from Alcoy to Xorret del Cati, to win in 5 hours 21 minutes 4 seconds.

Marco Manzano of Italy trailed by 21 seconds in second place and Valverde held off the other favourites to come third with a late surge, 40 seconds behind the winner.

Assen, Netherlands - Swiss Olympic champion Fabian Cancellara on Saturday won the Tour of Spain prologue in a time of 5 minutes 20 seconds.

The Saxo-Bank rider, who also won the opening time trial at this year's Tour de France, edged out Belgium's Tom Boonen by nine seconds and American Tyler Farrar by 12 to take an early lead in this year's Vuelta.

"Before the start of the race I would not have placed a bet on me. I gave it my best and now I am really happy," the Swiss said.

Russian Alexander Vinokourov, who has only just returned to cycling after a two-year doping ban, finished in seventh place 18 seconds behind Cancellara.

Rome - Italian cyclist Danilo Di Luca has tested positive for the latest generation of the blood booster EPO twice at this year's Giro d'Italia and faces a long ban, the Italian cycling federation FCI said on Saturday.

The FCI said that examinations of the b-samples confirmed the presence of the substance CERA.

The 2007 Giro winner Di Luca, 33, faces a four-year ban as it is his second doping offence, and is expected to end his career.

"I will quit cycling if the b-samples are positive as well," Di Luca had said recently. (dpa)

Aigle, Switzerland - Spain's Mikel Astarloza was suspended with immediate effect Thursday by cycling's ruling body UCI over a failed dope test.

The 29-year-old tested positive at a doping control on June 26 for the banned blood-booster EPO, eight days before the start of the Tour de France.

Astarloza won the 16th stage of this year's Tour and the Euskaltel-Euskadi rider now faces seeing his name removed from the race results list. There were no positive dope tests during this year's Tour. (dpa)

Copenhagen  - Denmark's Michael Rasmussen hopes to return to cycling's elite after serving his two-year ban for doping even at the ripe old age of 35.

Rasmussen, who was kicked out of the 2007 Tour while leading after lying about his whereabouts in connection with doping tests, finished second in the Designa Grandprix in Kjellerup on Monday on his return to competition since his ban expired on Saturday.

"I hope that this week will make who I'll sign for," said Rasmussen.

Paris  - Two new types of doping substances were possibly used at this year's Tour de France, according to the head of the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD).

Although there were no positive doping tests at the Tour, which was won for the second time in three years by Alberto Contador Sunday, Pierre Bordry told Tuesday's Le Monde newspaper that he wasn't convinced the race was clean.

Bordry believes that riders are still engaging in autologous blood transfusions, including third generation EPO (erythropoeitin).

Paris  - The French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) will re-analyse a number of samples taken from more than a dozen riders during the 2008 Tour de France, the daily L'Equipe reported Sunday on its website.

AFLD head Pierre Bordry sent a letter to the cyclists concerned just hours before this year's Tour de France began. According to L'Equipe, the measure concerns the samples of about 15 riders, all of whom finished in the top 20 of last year's Tour.

The new analyses are to be carried out after the summer, L'Equipe reported.

Paris  - The last stage of the 2009 Tour de France got under way Sunday in the city of Montereau-Fault-Yonne, south-east of Paris, with 26-year-old Spaniard Alberto Contador set to be crowned Tour champion.

The closing stage of the Tour is traditionally a leisurely ceremonial parade into Paris, with no real racing until the riders reach the Champs Elysees.

When the stage began, Contador led Andy Schleck of Luxembourg by 4 minutes 11 seconds, with 37-year-old Lance Armstrong in third, 5 minutes 24 seconds behind his Astana teammate.

London, July 25 : Cycling superstar Lance Armstrong is under fire after it was revealed that his latest bike for the Tour de France has been decorated with hundreds of dead butterflies.

Controversial Brit artist Damien Hirst has designed the machine for America''s seven-time Tour winner to ride into Paris tomorrow.

Hirst, who had earlier created works with insects, bred the butterflies, which were then killed and their wings glued to the hi-tech bike.

But Sam Glover, of animal rights group Peta, called the stunt "barbaric".

Bourgoin-Jallieu, France  - The 19th stage of the 2009 Tour de France began Friday in the city of Bourgoin-Jallieu with most riders thinking about Saturday's decisive stage and Lance Armstrong already looking forward to next year.

The 178km stage to Aubenas includes only one difficulty, a gently sloping 14km climb, and is regarded as a chance to rest up by the riders after Wednesday's gruelling day in the Alps and Thursday's difficult time trial around Lake Annecy.

Annecy, France - The 18th stage of the 2009 Tour de France, a crucial individual time trial, got under way Thursday in the Alpine city of Annecy when Yauheni Hutarovich of Belarus rolled down the starting ramp.

The 40.5km course around the Lake of Annecy contains a 3.7km climb at an average gradient of 6 per cent and is made to order for riders such as Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland, who won the shorter time trial that opened the Tour on July 4.

Bourg-Saint-Maurice, France  - The 17th stage of the 2009 Tour de France, by consensus the most difficult of this year's race, got under way Wednesday in the Alpine resort of Bourg-Saint-Maurice.

The 169.5km course to the mountain village of Le Grand-Bornand includes five climbs, four of them rated Category 1 in difficulty, and should determine the top three finsihers of this year's Tour, which ends Sunday in Paris.