Forty-four riders tested positive for doping substances during this year's Tour de France, according to the Council to Prevent and Fight Doping (CPLD). The government-run agency revealed the statistics yesterday on its official website (www.cpld.fr).

It stated that in all 66 of the 166 tests carried out were returned positive. The CPLD did not disclose any individual riders but did state that four French teams and all 13 foreign teams, including the US Postal Service outfit of three-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong, had members who failed tests.