Cycling: French Court Clears Millar in Cofidis Doping Case

The presiding judge of the court in the Paris suburb of Nanterre yesterday acquitted David Millar of doping charges in the case dating back to 2004 involving his team, Cofidis. The judge, Ghislaine Polge, said that it could not be established whether or not Millar had used banned substances on French soil.

Millar is currently in training in southern Spain with his new team, Saunier Duval, but has already served a two-year ban from racing following his confession in June 2004 that he had used the blood-booster erythropoietin. He was also stripped of his 2003 world time-trial championship title, having admitted that he used EPO in the build-up. Of the nine others accused in the case, a team masseur, Boguslav Madejak, was given a 12-month prison sentence, but will serve only three months.

Millar's former team-mate, the Italian Massimiliano Lelli, was acquitted on the same grounds as the Scot, while seven former riders and their contacts were given fines or suspended jail sentences.

A request for damages from the team's sponsor, Cofidis, on the grounds that the company's image had been harmed, received short shrift from Judge Polge, who commented that "they plead that their reputation has been damaged but do not mention any diminution in turnover".

Judge Polge added: "They could not have been unaware of the notorious phenomenon of doping or its widespread nature." Cofidis has continued to sponsor cycling and this year's team again includes Britain's Olympic pursuit champion Bradley Wiggins.

France's anti-doping agency last night confirmed that it had received a fax from the runner-up in last year's Tour de France, Oscar Pereiro, explaining his use of the banned substance salbutamol to treat asthma. Pereiro's team, Caisse d'Epargne, said their rider had been "negligent".

Pereiro told a Spanish radio station that he had used the asthma medicine Ventolin which contains salbutamol because he had permission from the International Cycling Union. "I am authorised to have 1,000 nanogrammes of salbutamol in my bloodstream but I had only 159," he said.