Lampre riders released; blast Police ‘witch hunt’
The Lampre cycling team members who were Sunday questioned by police after the Paris-Tours World Cup race, on Monday blasted the operation as part of a doping witch hunt to placate the media. Police sources said they wanted to question the riders about the ongoing investigation into Edita Rumsas, the wife of Lithuanian rider Raimondas Rumsas. She has been held in a French prison since her arrest in July and is to be questioned by an investigative magistrate on Tuesday after investigators found a large collection of performance-enhancing drugs in her car following the Tour de France, in
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By VeloNews Interactive, Copyright AFP2002
The Lampre cycling team members who were Sunday questioned by police after the Paris-Tours World Cup race, on Monday blasted the operation as part of a doping witch hunt to placate the media.
Police sources said they wanted to question the riders about the ongoing investigation into Edita Rumsas, the wife of Lithuanian rider Raimondas Rumsas.
She has been held in a French prison since her arrest in July and is to be questioned by an investigative magistrate on Tuesday after investigators found a large collection of performance-enhancing drugs in her car following the Tour de France, in which her husband placed third.
But the Lampre riders were furious to have had to face six hours of questioning. In a statement they denounced what they termed a “blitz” on the team which “appears curiously orchestrated to obtain great visibility in the international media.”
The statement said the team had made themselves available of their own accord as early as Saturday to investigators and added that “the team leaders and the riders have always cooperated with the French authorities in this enquiry.”