Traces of drugs were discovered in almost half the doping tests
carried out in this Tour de France it has been revealed.



The body in charge of testing urine samples (they take the piss) "The Council
for the Prevention of and Fight Against Doping" (CPFD) – which was set up after
the debacle of the 1998 drugs fiasco on the Tour – issued a statement saying that
45% of the 96 urine samples tested had been positive.



At this stage, it could all be scare mongering. Perhaps the worlds greatest cyclists
have reasons to be using bronchio-dilators and steriods, perhaps to treat their asthma,
itchy eyes or skin complaints.



French cycling federation president Daniel Baal, a strong anti-doping campaigner,
said: "The fact that 45% of riders controlled had traces of corticosteroids
or salbutamol in their systems poses a serious problem."



Disciplinary proceedings have already started against one competitor in the tour
though. There will be news on this as we have it.