Stage 15

Tour leader shrouded in suspicion over drug-test troubles, says Millar

The British cyclist David Millar yesterday bitterly attacked the Tour de France leader Michael Rasmussen for failing to make the anti-doping authorities aware of his whereabouts for out-of-competition testing.

Millar said: "He's now shrouded in suspicion, and rightfully so. It is unacceptable of a rider of his stature and responsibilities to not have his whereabouts supplied to the right authorities. For sure, it is possible for it to slip through the system due to slow Mexican mail, or whatever, but it is up to him to confirm that it has been received so as not to have this situation arise.

Rasmussen retained his race lead yesterday, but his credibility has been called into question, said Millar, who has become an anti-doping campaigner since serving a two-year ban for the use of the blood booster erythropoietin. "Now it screws us all," he said. "Because of the current situation he will be doubted. Regardless, it's shit for him, it's shit for the Tour de France, and it's shit for us, the riders and the fans."

The pressure on Rasmussen and other top cyclists in the race went up a notch yesterday when French customs officers raided vehicles belonging to four of the teams, including the Dane's Rabobank squad, in an episode that brought back memories of the Festina drugs bust in 1998.

The other teams involved were Discovery Channel, the team of the rider in second place, Alberto Contador, CSC, and Astana, whose leader Alexandr Vinokourov won yesterday's stage to Loudenvielle-Le-Louron in the Pyrenees.

Brian Nygaard of CSC described it as a "routine check. They asked to see the papers and the contents of the bus and what we had in our fridge. It took less than 15 minutes." Corinne Druey of Astana said: "They have found some prescription medicines but they did not take anything from the bus."

Since Festina, customs authorities in France have raided vehicles linked to the race on numerous occasions. They have not found drugs in official team cars, but have twice found banned substances in cars belonging to cyclists' wives.

More than a year since the Spanish blood doping inquiry, Operation Puerto, shook the Tour, fall-out from the police investigation continues, and yesterday there was a new twist in the case of Jan Ullrich, the 1997 Tour de France winner.

Magistrates in the German city of Bonn investigating a fraud claim against Ullrich were yesterday given permission by the Swiss authorities to have access to his bank accounts, to assess whether he made payments to the doctor at the centre of Operation Puerto, Eufemiano Fuentes. Ullrich has always denied involvement in the Puerto case.

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