Tour de France riders stage protest (AP)

July 25th, 2007

French police officer leaves after he carries out a search at the Astana cycling team hotel in Pau, France, Tuesday, July 24, 2007. Leader of the Astana team and Tour de France rider Alexandre Vinokourov tested positive for a banned blood transfusion after winning last weekend's time trial, prompting his Astana team to pull out of the race, a team spokeswoman said Tuesday. The positive test of the Kazakh rider, a one-time favorite to win cycling's premier event, dealt a heavy blow to a sport already reeling from a spate of doping scandals. (AP Photo/Bob Edme)AP - Dozens of Tour de France riders demonstrated their anger over repeated doping scandals by not starting the 16th stage at the scheduled time Wednesday.




Posted in World sports