'My Tour is clean'

Rumsas claims innocence as wife held in custody

Raimondas Rumsas: "She was bringing them from Lithuania for my mother-in-law." Mike Powell/Getty Images

BONNEVILLE, France (AP) -- The wife of Raimondas Rumsas, the Lithuanian rider who finished third in the Tour de France, was officially placed under investigation Tuesday, two days after allegedly being caught with a stash of suspicious drugs.

Edita Rumsas was put under formal investigation for supplying doping products following a hearing before an investigative magistrate Tuesday, prosecutor Vincent Le Pannerer said. She was placed in police custody.

The probe did not specify whom the products were intended for.

"The explanations given by the rider's wife are for now incomplete and in some cases hardly credible," Le Pannerer told a news conference. "They require numerous further inquiries."

Rumsas' wife was stopped by customs officials Sunday morning en route to Italy. Le Pannerer said that a "large quantity" of drugs was found in Mrs. Rumsas' vehicle.

Le Pannerer said the products included the endurance booster EPO, testosterone, growth hormones and anabolic agents, all of which are banned by world cycling's governing body, the UCI. Corticosteroids, use of which is restricted by the UCI, were also found.

The Lithuanian cyclist said in a newspaper interview published Tuesday that he did not take any banned substances to enhance his performance and that drugs found in his wife's possession after the race were medications for his mother-in-law.

"I have never taken anything. My Tour is clean," Rumsas, who rode for Italy's Lampre team, was quoted as saying by the Italian Gazzetta dello Sport. He was suspended by Lampre on Monday pending results by investigators.

UCI spokesman Enrico Carpani said Tuesday that all of Rumsas' test results for the Tour were negative.

Rumsas returned to Italy on Sunday after the last stage of the Tour, which was won by Lance Armstrong for the fourth straight year.

Police on Monday questioned six members of Lampre's technical staff who were still in France. They were freed, and no charges were filed against them, Le Pannerer said.

Tour de France Director Jean-Marie Leblanc was questioned Monday by police about drug tests conducted during the Tour, according to deputy Tour director Daniel Baal.

"If it turns out that there was doping by Rumsas during the Tour, he will lose his position in the standings and be suspended" from the Tour, Baal said Monday.

Tour officials are extremely concerned about possible doping. They have worked for four years to rebuild the reputation of the world's premiere cycling race after the 1998 edition was nearly derailed by a doping scandal.

That year, the Festina team's physiotherapist was caught at the French-Belgian border with a stash of illicit products, including EPO. Festina was expelled, and the incident opened the eyes of the cycling world to the extent of the problem, born out in several trials.

EPO, or erythropoietin, boosts endurance by stimulating the production of oxygen-carrying red blood cells in the body. It is considered among the most abused drugs in sports.

 

Related information

Stories

Team suspends Tour No. 3 after wife arrested 2002 Tour de France Index

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video