Prosecutors asked a French court to acquit British cyclist David Millar in a doping trial involving several current and former Cofidis riders.
Millar and the other riders have already "paid a lot," prosecutor Jacques Hossaert told the court on Thursday.
He requested suspended sentences of three to six months for the other six cyclists on trial. He did not ask for any fines.
The prosecutor was tougher on Cofidis physiotherapist Boguslaw Madejak, whom he called the pivot of the doping network.
Hossaert requested a one-year sentence, including four to six months in prison.
He especially criticized Madejak for persuading two fellow Poles to start doping.
The riders, Marek Rutkiewicz and Daniel Majewski, did not come to France for the trial, citing financial difficulties.
The trial was scheduled to wrap up yesterday with closing arguments by the defense.
Hossaert said the evidence against Millar was weak and praised him for "giving interesting leads for the fight against doping."
In testimony earlier this week, Millar said intense pressure to perform led him to try the banned blood-boosting hormone EPO.
He said the decision to start doping was difficult.
The Scottish rider was banned for two years and stripped of his 2003 world time-trial title after admitting to a French judge that he used EPO.
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Paolo Banchero on Sunday scored 24 points as the Orlando Magic overturned a 13-point deficit to end the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 16-game unbeaten streak with a gutsy 108-103 road victory. Cleveland, the runaway Eastern Conference leaders, had looked poised to extend their franchise-record winning run after surging clear of Orlando early in the third quarter, but after a season where they have staged hefty winning comebacks of their own, the tables turned on Cleveland in the face of a furious burst of Orlando scoring. The Magic outscored Cleveland 35-23 in the third quarter, with Franz Wagner leading the charge with nine points and
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
RSS