June 30, 2006 — Several Tour de France teams have announced the suspension of top riders implicated in the Operacion Puerto affair including T-Mobile’s Jan Ullrich, Oscar Sevilla and Rudy Pevenage (sporting director), and Ivan Basso (CSC), whose nickname was allegedly “Birillo”.

Francisco Mancebo (AG2R) and Joseba Beloki (Astana-Wurth) are also out and more rider suspensions are expected before the Tour begins tomorrow.

Pressure from the UCI, organizers and sponsors has been intense and the UCI is requesting the respective national cycling federations begin disciplinary proceedings against riders named in the Spanish drug sting.