July 5, 2007 – Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) will not take part in the 2007 TdF start line up according to recent reports by AFP. The announcement came Wednesday from the Milram team. Petacchi, 33, was suspended temporarily last week, but was in the team line-up for the TdF. Now he’ll be replaced by Ukranian cyclist, Andriy Grivko.

Another big name now missing from the TdF is Bjarne Riis, CSC team owner and manager, who indicated that he did “not have the strength” to direct his team after recent allegations by Joerg Jaksche (Tinkoff), implicating Riis in recent doping infractions reports BBC. Riis previously admitted to doping when he won the 1996 TdF, but Jaksche’s allegations cover more recent events. On Monday, Astana announced that team manager Walter Godefroot was dismissed. He, too, was named by Jaksche.

Petacchi, meanwhile, may be facing a one-year suspension from pro cycling due to his “non negative” doping control showing elevated levels of an anti-asthma medication, salbutamol, in his urine according to AFP. The one-year suspension is being sought by the Italian Olympic committee (CONI) which is serving the role of prosecutor in this case.

Once again big names are being forced out of the Tour just days before the start on July 7. And the list of cyclists who have signed the UCI anti-doping pledge is getting longer.

As of Thursday morning, only CSC and Quick Step teams did not have any riders who had signed, but some reports now suggest CSC riders have now agreed to sign.