Doping plight returns to Tour de France

The scourge of drug use returned to cycling’s main event as a French rider was arrested at his hotel and suspended by his Cofidis team Tuesday as part of a long-running doping investigation.

The arrest of 26-year-old Remy Di Gregorio, a once-promising climber who joined Cofidis this year, prompted the French team to provisionally suspend him -- ending his Tour. He remained in police custody Tuesday.

As often when such scandals hit, Tour officials said the arrest proved the anti-doping fight was working. The race’s top team, Sky, responded by telling reporters that the subject of doping was off-limits. The revelations threatened to overshadow a race that has been so far been dominated by Sky’s Bradley Wiggins -- an Olympic champion hoping to become the first Briton to win the Tour -- and his powerful squad.

As the Tour heads into the Alps, Cofidis said it would remain in the race despite the arrest, saying the rider was innocent until proven guilty. Di Gregario’s teammates could face questions before the start of Stage 10 on Wednesday. Judicial officials said two other people suspected of supplying Di Gregorio with banned substances were also arrested -- one with the rider in the eastern town Bourg-en-Bresse, and another in southern Marseille.

Cofidis team manager Yvon Sanquer said police agents “discreetly” entered the team hotel and no riders noticed the arrest as it happened. He said he only found out later, when authorities told him about it.

The judicial officials, who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly as the probe is ongoing, said the arrest was a result of an investigation begun in June last year. It was led by OCLAESP, a police unit responsible for doping investigations, and Marseille police. “[The police]have followed Remy’s actions for a good while,” Sanquer told a news conference in eastern Saint-Albain. If the team had known earlier, Di Gregorio would’ve been released immediately, he said.

It comes despite a public effort by cycling’s governing body, the International Cycling Union, to stamp out doping -- which has caused scandal after scandal after the Festina affair nearly derailed the Tour in 1998.

Meanwhile lawyers for retired cycling champ Lance Armstrong on Tuesday refiled a lawsuit in a bid to stop the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) from proceeding with a case charging him with using drugs during the years he won the Tour de France.