adminPantani, who died of a cocaine overdose in 2004, won the controversial race, with Ullrich taking second place.
The report identified a host of other riders who had cheated with EPO, including top sprinters Erik Zabel of Germany and Italian Mario Cipollini.
Others to be named and shamed were Italians Andrea Tafi, Nicolas Minali, Fabio Sacchi, Spanish world champion Abraham Olano and his compatriots Marcos Serrano and Manuel Beltran, German Jens Heppner and Dutch rider Jeroen Blijlevens. A trio of French riders were also found to have doped with EPO in the 1998 Tour — Laurent Jalabert, Jacky Durand and Laurent Desbiens, the commission’s report revealed.
Denmark’s Bo Hamburger and American Kevin Livingstone also resorted to the performance enhancer in 1998 and 1999.
The commission, though, found no hard evidence that American Bobby Julich, who was third, also used EPO, as Le Monde newspaper had reported on Tuesday. The findings were based on comparisons made of retrospective testing results from 2004 and a list of samples from the 1998 Tour de France and the 1999 race won by disgraced US rider Lance Armstrong.
Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour wins and banned from cycling for life last year. — AFP.
Online Reporter