Former professional Philippe Gaumont claimed he won only one race "cleanly" in his career during testimony given at a French court on Tuesday.

Gaumont is cooperating with investigators in trial of 10 Cofidis team riders and staff, who are facing doping charges. The Cofidis doping scandal erupted in 2004 when one of the team's young Polish riders was caught at an airport with vials of erythropoietin (EPO).

That arrest led to a serious police investigation in which a number of the team's riders, including Britain's David Millar, became ensnared.

Millar, who is now back cycling with the Saunier Duval team after serving a two-year doping ban after he admitted using EPO to police who found empty vials in his home, was due to be heard later Tuesday.

Gaumont shocked the court Tuesday when he said it was the current doctor of the French Cycling Federation (FFC), Armand Megret, who had first injected him with a doping product, in 1994.

"It was Armand who injected me with the first ever doping product of my career, in 1994," said Gaumont, who after retiring two years ago went on to write a book detailing the sordid secrets of drug-taking on and off the bike.

Gaumont takes a break during Tuesday's testimony

Photo: Agence France Presse

The presiding judge, Laurent Bougerie, was stunned.

"The same Armand Megret who is working as the official federation doctor, and who helped introduce the long-term health supervision program for riders?" the judge asked.

Gaumont confirmed that it was the same doctor. The long-term health supervision program for riders was introduced by the French authorities in a bid to keep track of the physical parameters of French professionals.

Gaumont, who rode with Cofidis from 1997 to 2004, admitted he had won only one race while not taking any kind of products.

"I only won one race cleanly as a professional, and that was the Tour of Poitou-Charentes in 1994," he said. "At Cofidis, there was only one rider who didn't cheat and that was (Frenchman) David Moncoutier. He had sufficient, physical qualities and he was strong enough mentally not to be tempted."

Megret and other non-riders accused in the case, are due to give testimony on Wednesday.

However before leaving, Gaumont fired a warning shot as regards the future of the sport.

"It's difficult to change things in cycling," said Gaumont. "Cycling is run by former riders, and when you've got former riders then you automatically have former cheats."

A total of 10 people, including seven riders or former riders, are facing charges in the case, in which testimony is scheduled to end Friday. The charges relate mostly to the possession and distribution of banned substances.

Tinkoff says deal could “save” Ullrich
Jan Ullrich could end up suffering the same fate as Italian Marco Pantani if he is not given a chance to come back to the sport, according to a team manager hoping to sign him.

Ullrich has been without a team since his name was linked to a Spanish doping investigation, dubbed Operation Puerto, which ended recently without any of the riders implicated being sanctioned. Omar Piscina, the team manager of Continental team Tinkoff, feels Ullrich will end up like Pantani, who died two years ago after suffering a cocaine overdose, if he has no future to look forward to. The Tinkoff team has also actively recruited American Tyler Hamilton.

The Olympic time trial champion served a two-year ban for blood doping. German Danilo Hondo, who also returned from a ban, is also on the team.

Piscina told regional German television channel, HR that he has Ullrich’s long-term interests at heart.

"If Jan feels that he is not going to race ever again then I fear the worst for him this winter," he said. The team manager of the Russian-Italian outfit feels Ullrich is currently in a comparable situation to Pantani. The Italian winner of the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France in 1998 became depressed after being thrown out of the Giro in 1999 for an elevated hematocrit.

The general belief is that that episode sparked Pantani's downhill spiral which ended with his death, alone in a Rimini hotel room in 2004.

"That is why Tinkoff, in particular the sponsor of the team Oleg Tinkoff who is a big fan of Ullrich, want to sign Ullrich," added Piscina.

Ullrich, like his fellow suspects implicated in Operacion Puerto, including Giro winner Ivan Basso, has been free to ride since no formal charges have resulted from the investigation.

The German press reported last week that Tinkoff, bankrolled by a Russian millionaire, would he prepared to pay Ullrich, the 1997 Tour de France winner, an annual salary of 3.8 million euros.

New name for Davitamon
Australians Robbie McEwen and CadelEvans, who gained varying degrees of success on last year's Tour de France, are facing a fresh challenge with a team name change for the 2007 season.

Formerly known as Davitamon, a Belgian supplement manufacturer, the team will be called “Predictor” at the start of the 2007 season.

From pushing the merits of vitamins and supplements, the cycling team will race next season advertising pregnancy tests on their shirts - which will be re-designed and could be dominantly pink in color.

Pharmaceutical company Omega Pharma, the team's main sponsor, explained the four years of being known as Davitamon has made that label sufficiently well-known on the market.

"Davitamon is now sufficiently well-known so we have decided to push another one of our products into the spotlight," said a statement on the Belga press agency.

McEwen claimed his third green jersey for the Tour de France points competition at this year's race, in which he also won three stages to take his career tally to 11.

Evans, a contender for the race's yellow jersey, finished a career-best fifth overall at just over five minutes behind apparent winner Floyd Landis.