Two in custody in Tour de France doping probe

MARSEILLE: French police detained two people on Monday as part of an investigation into suspected doping at this year’s Tour de France in the Arkea-Samsic team, prosecutors announced.

The probe is the first significant one in several years for the repeatedly scandal-hit tour which wrapped up on Sunday in Paris with a victory for 21-year-old Tadej Pogacar, who became the youngest winner in more than a century.

In a statement, prosecutor Dominique Laurens in the southern city of Marseille said that an investigation was being carried out into a “small part” of Arkea-Samsic, without specifying who had been placed in custody.

Laurens added that the two people had “many health products including drugs in their personal belongings, but also and above all a method that can be qualified as doping”.

The general manager of the French team, Emmanuel Hubert, told AFP he was supporting his riders.

“But if it turned out that at the end of the current investigation, elements came to confirm the truth of doping practices, the team would immediately dissociate itself from such acts and would take the necessary measures without delay,” he said.

A source familiar with the matter told AFP that the searches had targeted several riders including Colombia’s Dayer Quintana, brother of team leader and former Giro d’Italia winner Nairo Quintana, as well as members of the medical team.