Tour de France Rider Remy Di Gregorio Arrested in Doping Investigation
A French rider in the Tour de France has been arrested at his team hotel and suspended by his team in connection with a doping investigation.
A French rider taking part in the 2012 Tour de France has been arrested at his team hotel and suspended by his team in connection with a doping investigation.
Judicial officials said Team Cofidis rider Remy Di Gregorio was arrested Monday night. The officials requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly as the investigation is ongoing.
Officials said two other people suspected of supplying Di Gregorio with banned substances were arrested -- one along with the rider in Bourg-en-Bresse, and another in Marseille.
Cofidis said in a statement that it will stay in the race but Di Gregorio is "provisionally suspended" pending the outcome of an investigation.
"The suspicion surrounding the rider that has been implicated, Remy Di Gregorio, led us to strictly and immediately apply our team sanctions for breaking ethical rules," the French team said in a statement for the press.
Cofidis said Di Gregorio will be fired if convicted of any wrongdoing.
Di Gregorio's team was staying in Bourg-en-Bresse on Tuesday, the first rest day of the 2012 Tour de France.
The investigation began last June and is led by the French police agency responsible for doping investigations, OCLAESP, and Marseille police.
The 26-year-old Di Gregorio was in 35th place after Monday's ninth stage. The Marseille native turned pro in 2005 with French team La Francaise des Jeux, and was once considered one of France's most promising young riders.
When the investigation began last year, Di Gregorio was riding for Astana. He won one stage in the 2011 Paris-Nice race with the Kazakh team.
This season, he has had one stage win, in the Spanish Tour of Asturias in April.
In the 2008 Tour de France, Cofidis pulled out of the Tour de France following Italian rider Cristian Moreni's positive test for testosterone.
In 2004, French police arrested then-Cofidis riders David Millar of Great Britain and Cedric Vasseur of France in another doping investigation involving the team and seized male testosterone hormones, EPO and amphetamines.
Another former Cofidis rider, Phillipe Gaumont, accused several of his teammates and the team doctor at the time of wide-spread doping.
