Cyclist Admits Using Drugs in ’98 Tour

A French cycling star told a court in Lille, France, on Tuesday that he used performance-enhancing drugs in the 1998 Tour de France and that doping was as common in his sport as putting air in the tires.

In a quavering voice, Richard Virenque, the leading rider on the Festina team at the heart of the Tour’s greatest drug scandal, testified he played with words in repeatedly denying for years that he took drugs.

The doping scandal, centering on Festina, almost wrecked the 1998 Tour, the world’s top cycling competition.

Virenque, who now rides for Italy’s Polti team, is the only cyclist among 10 people on trial. He is charged with “complicity in facilitating and inciting the use of doping,” but not with taking drugs. Virenque faces up to two years in prison.

Among the other nine are former Festina team trainer Bruno Roussel and Willy Voet, the Belgian trainer caught just before the Tour started with a load of the performance-enhancing erythropoietin (EPO), in a team car.

The nine defendants risk up to 10 years in prison for “infraction of drug laws and doping legislation and importing medication as contraband.”

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No jurors were selected in the first-degree murder trial of former NFL player Rae Carruth in Charlotte, N.C.

About 20 potential jurors were excused by Superior Court Judge Charles Lamm on the second day of the trial. Most of the potential jurors expressed their opposition to the death penalty.

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Six jockeys and horse owners Neil McElwee and George Berryhill pleaded not guilty in Harrisburg, Pa., to federal charges of fixing more than a dozen races at Penn National Race Course. They are scheduled to go to trial Dec. 4.

A seventh jockey, Manuel Torres, a resident of Rochester, N.Y., did not show up for the arraignment Tuesday.

The other jockeys involved are: Ramon Pena, Lazaro Vives, Luis Morales, Rocky Jurado, Andres Reyes and Felix Pinero.

College Basketball

The NCAA infractions committee confirmed newspaper reports regarding punishment for the University of Minnesota men’s basketball program, which include a four-year probation and a reduction in scholarships stemming from an academic fraud scandal.

Jim Baron, who coached St. Bonaventure to its first NCAA tournament berth in 22 years last season, has signed a five-year contract extension. Last season the Bonnies set a school record for conference victories, going 11-5 in the Atlantic 10 and 21-10 overall. . . . Dan Dakich, the coach at Bowling Green the last three seasons, has signed a five-year contract extension.

Ball State guard Cedric Moodie will be sidelined about six weeks with a broken foot. Moodie, who started 15 of 31 games and averaged 10.2 points last season, broke his foot during practice Monday.

Tennis

U.S. Open champion Marat Safin won before a home crowd, defeating Germany’s Rainer Schuttler, 6-4, 6-4, in the opening round of the $2.05-million Kremlin Cup at Moscow.

Lisa Raymond, a doubles specialist and the only American playing singles at the Kremlin Cup, downed qualifier Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus, 7-6 (5), 6-3 to reach the second round.

Seventh-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia struggled past Ruxandra Dragomir of Romania 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-1.

Top-seeded Magnus Norman pulled out of the Swiss Indoors tournament at Basel because of back injury. The Swede was coming off a victory last weekend in Shanghai, China, where he said his back first began to hurt.

Richard Krajicek, showing no lingering effects from his repeated injuries this season, used a bullet serve to defeat fifth-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain 6-4, 6-3 in the first round.

Miscellany

The Women’s World Cup is going back to China in 2003, although the formal announcement won’t come until early December.

The U.S. men’s crucial World Cup qualifier at Barbados has been scheduled for Nov. 15. at Waterford.

Rivaldo’s equalizer in the fourth minute of injury time stopped Barcelona from tumbling out of the European Champions Cup in the first round after a 1-1 tie against Leeds United. . . . In quarterfinal matches at the Asian Cup in Beirut, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia got a golden goal in the 108th minute by Nawat al-Temyat to defeat Kuwait, 3-2, and Japan defeated Iraq, 4-1.

Jose Sulaiman was re-elected president of World Boxing Council for another four-year term, extending a tenure that began in 1975. . . . Boxing promoter Joseph DeGuardia will allow New York state authorities to supervise his boxing activities for a year after an employee was accused of withholding a boxer’s positive Hepatitis C test.

Robert Smith beat Walter Ray Williams Jr., 239-233, to win the PBA Flagship Open at Erie, Pa.