France's anti-doping agency dropped its investigation on Thursday into Tour de France runner-up Oscar Pereiro, saying the Spanish rider had provided sufficient justification for use of an asthma medication.
Pereiro reportedly tested positive for salbutamol during last summer's Tour.
The International Cycling Union said he had authorization to use the drug.
PHOTO: AFP
The French agency, ALFD, had asked Pereiro to send medical justification. In a statement on Thursday, AFLD president Pierre Bordry said he had received a satisfactory explanation.
Pereiro stands to inherit last year's Tour title if winner Floyd Landis loses an appeal of his positive doping test.
"After a thorough examination of the documentation, the agency's doctors concluded that the dossiers conform," Bordry said in a statement. "The agency regrets that it took so long to obtain these."
The AFLD previously said it has sent Pereiro three requests since August for medical information to show that he needed salbutamol and that the UCI waiver was not hiding an attempt to cheat.
Bordry criticized the UCI for what he claims is sloppy procedure.
"The examination of therapeutic documents could have been done under better conditions by the agency (AFLD) if it had obtained the elements from the UCI," Bordry said. "Unless these documents were not actually in their possession."
On Monday, the UCI criticized the AFLD, saying it had asked it to refrain from publicly implying that Pereiro is guilty of doping when he had committed only an administrative offense.
During last year's Tour, Landis tested positive for elevated ratios of testosterone to epitestosterone.
If his appeal fails, Landis could be banned from cycling for two years. The American rider maintains that the Chatenay-Malabry laboratory that handled his test is unreliable and made mistakes.
Pereiro and Landis were formerly teammates on the Phonak team.
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