Ullrich Suspended on Eve of Tour

Germany's Jan Ullrich, the 1997 winner and one of the favourites to win this year's Tour de France, has been suspended by his team T-Mobile and will not ride in the race.

The team were informed by UCI, the sport's governing body, that Ullrich, his team-mate Oscar Sevilla and team manager Rudy Pevenage, have been involved in an anti-doping probe in Spain. "Because of the documents given to us by the Tour management we consider it is now impossible to keep on working with those three persons," said T-Mobile spokesman Christian Frommert. "If we are presented with evidence, which leads us to doubt the credibility of one or other of our riders, then we act upon it immediately. That is the case now."

T-Mobile now suspects both suspended cyclists had transgressed cycling's rules. "In the course of the investigations into the Spanish doping network, new information has been presented to the [team], which casts doubt on the protests of innocence that have until now come from Jan Ullrich, Oscar Sevilla and Rudy Pevenage," added a team statement.

"The sponsors of the cycling team, the mobile communications company T-Mobile, have demanded that the team management, suspend with immediate effect the two implicated athletes and the sporting director. The team management has complied with this demand. Lorenzo Bernucci (Italy) and Stephan Schreck (Germany) will now replace the suspended duo in the T-Mobile roster when the Tour de France starts in Strasbourg on Saturday."

It was reported in the Spanish media earlier this week that the 32-year-old German could be implicated in an investigation into blood doping in Spain, although he denied any wrongdoing. "This will change our objectives for the Tour de France. Now we will take it day by day," explained Luuc Eisenga, the team's media officer. "It was serious information which gave us doubts about the versions produced by Oscar, Jan and Rudy."

Another of the favourites, Ivan Basso, the 28-year-old Italian who rides for CSC, was also included in a list of 56 cyclists under investigation.

Doping in cycling has been a major concern to the UCI for many years. In 1998, French police investigations into widespread drug-taking turned the 1998 race into a farce. A car belonging to the Festina team was found to contain huge quantities of various performance-enhancing drugs. The team director admitted that some of the cyclists were routinely given banned substances. Festina were expelled from the race, and police and sport officials raided other team headquarters.

Scottish rider David Millar was also suspended in 2004 after he admitted to French police he had used the banned blood booster EPO. Millar's suspension expired last week, just in time for him to make his comeback on the biggest stage possible and in the race which made his name.