Cofidis rider Lelli charged over doping affair

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2004

Cycling-FRA-doping-Lelli

PARIS (AFP) ? Italian cyclist Massimiliano Lelli from the scandal-hit French team Cofidis was charged for drug trafficking, judicial sources said.

The 36-year-old was one of nine people being investigated as part of a judicial inquiry into the alleged use of illegal substances by the Cofidis team, who have been under investigation in France since March 2003.

The Italian rider was implicated by British rider David Millar and French rider Philippe Gaumont, who have both been sacked by Cofidis.

Millar was handed a two-year ban and stripped of his world time trial title by the British cycling federation after admitting to French police that he had taken the banned blood booster erythropoietin (EPO) in 2001 and 2003. He also...