With most of the races so far down in Australia or Malaysia, the only real road action in Europe is happening of the bikes and in the courts.

In Italy the trial of top cycling doctor Michele Ferrari has resumed, with accusations of him prescribing EPO to riders coming thick and fast. Gianluca Bortolami has admitted that the training plans prepared for him by Ferrari include advice on how to use EPO effectively by marking injection times with asterisks. However he is still claiming that he never used the drug and the two vials of it he kept in his fridge for a year were ‘being looked after’ for his Festina soigneur Willy Voets.

Meanwhile both Filippo Simeoni (currently Acqua e Sapone) and Fabrizio Convalle (retired) have testified against Ferrari, detailing how he prescribed them EPO, Andriol and other drugs and gave them advice on when to administer masking agents pass tests. Again they both talked of training plans marked with asterisks to show optimum doping times after hard training sessions. Ferrari still maintains total innocence.

Over in France, Lance Armstrong and his USPS team have had enough of the whole doping slur investigations that have been dragging on since the 2000 Tour De France. After 18 months of co-operation and constant testing of samples provided, none have been positive and any oblique accusations remain unproven.

Armstrong and others have always been treated as witnesses rather than defendants, so they can only be asked – rather than ordered – to come in for questioning and now they’ve had enough of co-operating with what they see as a witch hunt. The investigation looks like drawing to an inconclusive halt while Armstrong and team prepare for the Vuelta a Murcia next month.