French cycling doping probe widens
PARIS, France -- French Olympic medal-winning cyclist Philippe Gaumont has been placed under investigation as part of a widening anti-doping investigation focusing on the Cofidis team.
Gaumont, who won a bronze medal in the team time trial at the 1992 Games and competed for Cofidis in last year's Tour de France, is suspected of supplying a fellow cyclist with the performance-enhancing drug EPO.
A French magazine also published extracts from phone taps of cyclists allegedly discussing drug use.
French investigators would not confirm if the tapes were genuine.
In one conversation recorded last July Marek Rutkiewicz, a former Cofidis rider who is also under investigation, allegedly talks to a fellow Polish rider about acquiring anti-inflammatory drugs.
"Is it enough to take them for three weeks?" Rutkiewicz is quoted as saying by Le Point magazine.
"That's enough for the season," the other unidentified cyclist allegedly replied.
"You're too young to take too much. You're mad! You're not like others who take it three times during the Tour de France."
Rutkiewicz was arrested at a Paris airport last week. Cofidis team assistant Boguslaw Madejak was also arrested and is being held in custody.
Gaumont and Cofidis teammate Cedric Vasseur were arrested on Tuesday on their way home from training in southern Spain.
Gaumont is suspected of providing EPO to another former teammate, Robert Sassone, who is also under investigation.
A search of Sassone's home last week found 23 doses of EPO, as well as the male hormone testosterone and injectable amphetamines, a police spokeswoman said.
Sassone, Gaumont and Vasseur have been released while the probe continues.
