By Francois Thomazeau

“I believe cycling will be a cleaner sport after this Tour than it was at the start. We’re cleaning the sport, we’re almost there but I can’t rule out that there is some dirt left,” he said before the start of the 16th stage in Cuneo.

Three riders—Spaniards Manuel Beltran and Moises Duenas and Italian climber Riccardo Ricco, winner of two mountain stages—have failed dope tests for banned blood-booster EPO since the start in Brest earlier this month.

Bordry said on Tuesday that Ricco had tried to avoid the test which he tested positive after the fourth stage.

“The targeted tests we’re making are based on the parameters of riders we hold and other information we obtain from various sources,” Bordry added. “They’re not random tests.

“In the case of Ricco, it is true that we have tested him many times and the repetition of efforts paid off.”

The French anti-doping agency (AFLD) had conducted blood tests before the start of the Tour, which revealed a number of odd parameters, then daily urine tests after stages and unannounced blood, urine and capillary tests in team hotels before and after stages.

“A number of rider profiles seem to indicate that they have stopped doping practices for fear of being caught,” Bordry said.

He added that targeted testing was as much a deterrent as a means of repression.

Asked why Tour leader Frank Schleck of Luxembourg was twice controlled in his team’s hotel in Cuneo on Sunday and Monday evening, Bordry said such moves were often tactical,

“A rider who’s been tested one day does not necessarily expect to be tested again the next day,” he said.

Patrice Clerc, president of Tour organisers ASO (Amaury Sport Organisation), said Bordry’s message was reassuring and that he hoped for the Tour would not be tarnished by more doping cases.

“The message that we’re gradually cleaning the sport is getting through but another positive test affecting a leading rider could ruin our efforts and lead people to believe that this is a lost war,” he told Reuters.

(Editing by Justin Palmer)

(yahoosports.com)