Rumsas wife had EPO - report

Investigators are reported to have clearly identified the performance-enhancing drug EPO in six syringes seized in the July arrest of Edita Rumsas, wife of Tour de France third place finisher Raimondas Rumsas.

French newspaper L'Equipe reports that the syringes, claimed to be for Rumsas' cancer-stricken mother-in-law, in fact contained six doses of the orange and white substance.

Edita Rumsas has been in jail for a month-and-a-half since her arrest by customs police in the French Alps on the last day of the Tour de France. Her car contained no less than 37 illicit substances. Lawyers are to plead again next Wednesday for the release of the mother of three children. Her husband, has so far refused to return to France to answer investigators' questions.

Raimondas Rumsas, suspended by his Lampre team, has always maintained his innocence. In three random tests during the Tour de France, Rumsas tested clean for drugs. However l'Equipe notes that his red blood cell count rose during the three week race, raising suspicions as levels generally fall by the end of the race.

Hence, the French newspaper raises fresh doubts over the efficiency of current EPO detection methods: "no these syringes don't contain some new generation doping product. This proves that EPO is still ever-present."