Date:10/04/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/04/10/stories/2004041006652000.htm

Sport - Banking & Finance

Former rider blames doctor in Cofidis doping scandal

PARIS, APRIL 9. Several Cofidis cyclists and the team's doctor Jean-Jacques Menuet are accused by a former rider of widespread doping abuse, a newspaper reported on Friday.

Sports daily L'Equipe published extracts of the testimony given by former Cofidis cyclist Philippe Gaumont — one of seven team members placed under investigation by judge Richard Pallain.

In the ongoing doping scandal — the biggest to hit cycling since the Festina affair in 1998 — Gaumont made a number of heavy allegations against the Cofidis team. Among them, he accuses Menuet of having given cortisone and human growth hormone injections to riders.

``Menuet's political stance is never to prescribe an illicit product or a banned product,'' L'Equipe quoted Gaumont as saying. But if you bring these products to him, not only will he explain how they work to you, but he is likely to administer them.'' — AP