Manuel Beltran, seen at the 2007 Tour de France, rides for Liquigas. (Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images)Veteran Spanish rider Manuel Beltran has tested positive for EPO at the Tour de France, the head of the French anti-doping agency said Friday.
Pierre Bordry said the 37-year-old Liquigas rider had traces of the performance-enhancing drug in a test carried out during the three-week race.
Beltran has been informed and has the right to ask for a second sample to be tested, Bordry told The Associated Press on Friday.
"There are not just traces of EPO, there is EPO," Bordry told The Associated Press by telephone. "Whether there is a lot or a little, EPO is forbidden."
The Tour was hit by doping scandals last year when pre-race favourite Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan tested positive for blood doping and race leader Michael Rasmussen was kicked out just days before the end for having lied about his whereabouts when he missed pre-competition doping tests.
In the 2006 Tour, American rider Floyd Landis tested positive for synthetic testosterone after a spectacular comeback ride and was later stripped of his title after a long court battle.
Race organizers ASO pledged a harder approach to detecting drug cheats at this year's Tour, with eight specially trained chaperones shadowing riders after each stage, even climbing onto team buses to ensure riders went to post-stage anti-doping checks.
Every rider was blood-tested before the start of the race on July 3 and 4 by Bordry's AFLD, which is responsible for testing along with the French cycling federation. The International Cycling Union is not involved in testing this year because of a long-standing rift with ASO.
