Paris - The Paris public prosecutor's office has opened a preliminary investigation into doping after the discovery of a substantial amount of suspicious material during the running of this year's Tour de France, the daily Le Monde reported Tuesday on its website. Several teams are targeted by the investigation, including the Kazakh team Astana, which included Tour winner Alberto Contador and seven-time Tour champion Lance Armstrong, who finished third this year.
According to a judicial source, police from the Office Against Damage to the Environment and Public Health found "hundreds of syringes" and "perfusion material" during the running of the Tour.
The objects seized are now being analyzed to determine if they were used to administer illegal substances.
A judicial source told Le Monde that "the investigation is taking place in the same context as the malfunctions noted by the AFLD (the French Anti-Doping Agency) during the Tour de France."
On October 5, Le Monde said that an AFLD report charged that the body that governs world cycling, the UCI, had given preferential treatment regarding doping testing to Astana during the 2009 Tour.
The report also declared that UCI inspectors had been lax and unprofessional in the way they managed the tests.
Relations between the UCI and AFLD have been strained for a long time. The UCI was not welcome to conduct the anti-doping programme at the 2008 Tour, but resumed control this year.
The UCI said it had acted on AFLD concerns over Astana and that its investigation "showed that the Astana team had not been favoured in any way."
The new report is certain to worsen the bad blood between the AFLD and the UCI. It also leaves open the question as to who will be in charge of doping during next year's Tour. The course and teams for the 2010 Tour de France are to be presented Wednesday.
In the near term, the investigation will not affect Armstrong's paticipation in next year's race, as he left Astana immediately after the 2009 Tour and has formed a new team, Team RadioShack.
