MUSEEUW FOUND GUILTY OF DOPING IN BELGIUM

Former world champion and classics winner Johan Museeuw has been found guilty of doping under Belgian law and has been given a ten-month suspended prison sentence and fined £15000.

According to reports in the Belgian media, Museeuw was involved in a major doping investigation involving 15 other people and was found guilty for the possession of the banned blood booster Arenesp, EPO and Dexomethasone.

Former riders Jo Planckaert, Chris Peers and Mario De Clercq, got the same punishment. Vet Jose Landuyt and soigneur Herman Versele, who were suspected of supplying the riders with the drugs, were fined £15000 and given a one-year suspended sentence.

Museeuw won the world road race title in Lugano in 1996 and also won the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix three times during his long career. He retired and started a bike company when the doping accusations first emerged and was distanced from the Patrick Lefevere?s Quick Step team who he rode for during most of his career.

Museeuw has already been banned by the Belgian Cycling Federation.