Belgian cyclist 'buys drugs from Australia'

AUSTRALIAN Customs officers are investigating how a Belgian cyclist managed to buy through the mail a large quantity of illicit drugs.

AUSTRALIAN Customs officers are investigating how a former Belgium teammate of Cadel Evans and Robbie McEwen managed to buy through the mail a large quantity of illicit drugs normally used as a dietary supplement for horses.

The Canberra-based probe follows former Silence-Lotto rider Wim Vansevenant's admission that a package posted in Australia and seized by Belgian Customs officials contained doping products meant for him.

Vansevenant told Belgium's DeMorgen.be website the substance found in the package sent from an Australian address was TB-500, a synthetic peptide designed to promote muscle growth in horses.

A random check of websites found a 10mg vial sells for $450.

The former rider said he had used the drug on a regular basis to maintain fitness since his retirement in 2008.

Customs and Border Protection officials would not comment.

Vansevenant rode the 2008 Tour de France as a domestique alongside Evans and McEwen and finished officially last. He retired at the end of that season.

Belgian sources said the Ghent Public Prosecution office was also conducting an investigation.

Vansevenant was to have been the driver for guests of the Omega Pharma-Lotto team at the Tour de France, starting tomorrow.

The Australian was told that while acknowledging the package was his, Vansevenant denied the drugs were going to be used for riders on the team. "It was only a small amount to improve my own condition," he said.

"It was the second time I ordered. The order was not for the Omega Pharma-Lotto team."

According to the Belgian paper De Standaard, the package contained several thousand dollars worth of doping products.

In a statement yesterday, Omega Pharma-Lotto team director Geert Coeman said the team had nothing to do with Vansevenant's purchases.

"This is bad news, especially just a few days before the tour, even though our connection with the man is pretty limited," Coeman said.