Tour de France:The Tour de France's already damaged reputation has suffered a further blow with the news that Spanish rider Iban Mayo tested positive for the banned substance EPO during the competition.
Mayo's positive test came on July 24th, a rest day in the Tour, and he has been suspended by his team, Saunier Duval-Prodir.
He will now undergo a second test to confirm the presence of the substance and looks set to follow the likes of high-profile competitors Michael Rasmussen and Alexandre Vinokourov in being sacked by his team if it proves positive.
Meanwhile, Vinokourov's cycling career is in tatters after he was fired by the Astana team. Vinokourov, the Tour de France's pre-race favourite, was thrown out of the event last week after returning a 'non-negative' test result for blood doping after the time-trial in Albi.
The 33-year-old Kazakh had assembled the team himself and insisted they wear a uniform in the Kazakhstan national colours. But as of yesterday he is no longer part of the team which left the Tour after their leader was thrown out.
Vinokourov had proclaimed his innocence, claiming he would "have to be mad" to have committed the alleged doping offence.
Meanwhile, government officials in France will this week meet with Patrice Clerc and other cycling chiefs as discussions continue regarding the path to take in the fight against drugs.
Clerc, the president of Tour organiser Amaury Sport Organisation, said: "Knowing that a large part of what happened in this Tour could have been avoided, you can't not have a great feeling of anger.
"This isn't new - for years, I have said that the sport is suffering from above all an image problem. "This problem sprouts from the affairs that have come out into the open, but equally from the permanent suspicion of the performances."