Paris - Several riders at this year's Tour de France are being retested for the banned blood booster EPO, Pierre Bordry, the head of the French anti-doping agency, said Wednesday.
Tests from the Tour showed suspicious signs of a third-generation EPO. The unnamed riders concerned are now having their blood samples retested, he said.
Meanwhile a second blood sample has confirmed that Tour cyclist Moises Duenas Nevado of Spain used the banned blood-booster.
Bordry said the "B" sample had confirmed the original sample finding.
Duenas Nevado, 27, was kicked off the Tour and suspended by his team, Barloworld.
He had tested positive for EPO, which increases the density of oxygen-carrying red blood cells, at the conclusion of the fourth stage, an individual time trial, on July 8.
He was 19th in the overall Tour standings after 10 stages when the positive test was announced by authorities. It also emerged that police had found illegal substances in his room.
Duenas Nevado, who has denied doping, faces a two-year ban and could even face a custodial sentence in view of the fact that doping is a criminal offence in France.
His was one of five positive tests at this year's Tour. French cyclist Jimmy Casper has tested positive for corticoids, Riccardo Ricco of Italy and Manuel Beltran of Spain tested positive for EPO, while Dmitriy Fofonov of Kazakhstan tested positive for a banned stimulant. (dpa)
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