Police find bottles, syringes near tour hotel

Click here for more on this story

Posted: Wednesday September 02, 1998 05:41 PM

Massi has been placed under investigation for possible doping charges during the Tour de France Alex Livesey/Allsport

GRENOBLE, France (CNN/SI) -- French police revealed Wednesday that bottles and bloody syringes which had been found near a hotel in Voreppe were being analyzed.

The GAN, Casino, Saeco and Kelme teams stayed at the hotel on July 25 and 26 during the Tour de France.

A person was seen dumping a bag in a field just over 100 meters from the hotel were staying as the tour passed through the southeastern region, police said. They did not say when the bag was found.

French police are currently carrying out a widespread probe into the tour which was marred by a series of revelations about the use by cyclists of performance-enhancing drugs.

Casino's Italian cyclist, Rodolfo Massi, has been placed under investigation on suspicion of supplying banned substances to other riders.

Six teams withdrew from the race and one, Festina, was kicked out after the team director said there was an organized doping ring at work in the team.

Related information
Stories
Four Spanish teams withdraw from women's Tour de France Ullrich considered quitting the tour ONCE pulls out of three major French cycling events Tour organizers plan to draw up good conduct charter Disqualified Festina cyclists return to competition
Multimedia
Click here for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call 1-888-53-CNNSI.

Reuters contributed to this report.