Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich of Germany was suspended by his team yesterday amid a doping scandal in Spain, forcing him out of cycling's premier race.
Oscar Sevilla, Ullrich's teammate, also was suspended by the T-Mobile team, team spokesman Luuc Eisenga said.
"They will not ride in the Tour" that starts today, the spokesman said. T-Mobile also suspended sporting director Rudi Pevenage, he said.
Ullrich and Sevilla were among 56 cyclists named in a Spanish probe as having contact with a doctor charged in connection with alleged doping, a leading Spanish radio station reported on Thursday.
Cadena SER said the Civil Guard had decoded the names from notes taken by Eufemiano Fuentes. Other names included Italian rider Ivan Basso, the US' Tyler Hamilton, Spaniards Francisco Mancebo, Joseba Beloki, Roberto Heras, Santi Perez, Jose Enrique Gutierrez and Colombian Santiago Botero, the station reported.
Two Spanish cycling teams -- Astana-Wurth and Comunidad Valenciana -- have been implicated. Comunidad Valenciana had its invitation to compete in the Tour rescinded, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled on Thursday that the Astana-Wurth team could not be excluded from the race.
Ullrich, the 1997 Tour winner and a five-time runner-up, is one of the favorites in this year's race. Tour organizers said on Tuesday that the evidence against him was too weak to ask him to withdraw.
But yesterday, the T-Mobile spokesman said the team had received information implicating Ullrich, Sevilla and Pevenage from Tour de France organizers, including documents from the Spanish government.
"The only thing I can tell you is that the information is clear enough and didn't leave any doubt," Eisenga said.
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