Tour de france
'Nothing to hide' - Tour de France team leader denies doping
Police detained two people from the Arkea-Samsic team on Monday. French daily Le Parisien reported that they were a doctor and physiotherapist.
The probe is the first significant one in several years for the repeatedly scandal-hit tour which wrapped up on Sunday in Paris with a victory for 21-year-old Tadej Pogacar, who became the youngest winner in more than a century.
Many predicted the COVID-19 pandemic would prevent the race making it the 3,400 kilometres from the Mediterranean city of Nice to the French capital.
The 21-year-old will lead the peloton into Paris on Sunday wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey and, barring disaster, will climb onto the top step of the podium.
In the race for overall Tour de France victory Jumbo's dominant leader Roglic retained a 57 second advantage over his Slovenian compatriot Tadej Pogacar.
Last year's winner Egan Bernal has withdrawn from the Tour de France, his Ineos team said on Wednesday, after he fell out of contention in a disastrous mountain stage.
Roglic leads Pogacar by 40 seconds with five stages remaining. Rigoberto Uran is third at 1min 35sec, while Lopez and Briton Adam Yates round out the top five.
While Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme tested positive, no riders did in the first wave of tests, conducted around last Monday's rest day. Four teams lost one member of their entourage.
There was no change in the overall standings a day ahead of a massive mountain slog with Jumbo's Primoz Roglic 21 seconds ahead of defending champion Colombia's Egan Bernal of Ineos.
Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme, who was asymptomatic, said he had tested negative for coronavirus three times before the start of this year's race. He must now leave the race for a week to go into quarantine.
An emotional Julian Alaphilippe dedicated his victory on Sunday's second stage of the Tour de France to his late father Jo, who passed away in June at the age of 80 after a long illness.
On Thursday, French Prime Minister Jean Castex put Nice on a Covid-19 "red zone" list with tightened health protocols.
With the gathering contenders mulling the likely sprint finish on the Mediterranean city's celebrated seafront Promenade des Anglais, it was announced only a few dozen fans could get to see the race start on Saturday.
Two sports directors who will be on the Aug. 29-Sept 20 event confirmed a report by cycling website Velonews that the race will be over for teams who are found to have two infected members in their ranks.
The 2021 Tour will begin on June 26 and end on July 18, six days before the start of the Mount Fuji road race. It was originally scheduled to begin on July 2 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Cycling governing body UCI on Tuesday revealed the new calendar which it is hoped will salvage a season in turmoil amid the coronavirus pandemic which has killed nearly 260,000 worldwide.
The Tour, scheduled to start on 27 June, was pushed back to 29 August due to the outbreak.
The announcement was made as the government unveiled its plans to gradually end the lockdown in France from May 11.