Corrina_Sullivan's Blog

AURILLAC, France (AP) -- Tour de France rider Manuel Beltran has been taken away by French police after testing positive for EPO. Liquigas cycling team spokesman Paolo Barbieri said Beltran was taken from the team hotel, and police are searching the team's rooms. The veteran Spanish rider was kicked out of the Tour after testing positive following the first stage on July 5. "There are not just traces of EPO, there is EPO," Pierre Bordry, leader of the French anti-doping agency, told The Associated Press by telephone on Friday. "Whether there is a lot or a little, EPO is forbidden." Bordry said Beltran had been targeted after his "parameters were abnormal" in the pre-Tour blood testing July 3-4. "Yes, ... that was why he was tested on Saturday (July 5)," Bordry said. He said other cyclists with "suspicious" parameters from the pre-Tour tests also had been targeted, but he would not say who they are. Beltran has been suspended from the team, and if a second backup sample also tests positive, Beltran will be fired. The rest of the team is expected to continue in the three-week race. A strong climber, Beltran helped Lance Armstrong win the Tour in 2003, 2004 and 2005, often pulling the Texan up the steep climbs. Beltran is the fourth former Armstrong teammate to test positive for doping; the others were Floyd Landis, Tyler Hamilton and Roberto Heras.

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Have a nice weekend,
Corrina