Former mountain biking world champion Melissa “Missy†Giove was in custody Thursday on federal drug charges after authorities said they seized more than 200 pounds of marijuana from a truck she was driving in upstate New York.
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials said Wednesday that the 37-year-old Giove, of Chesapeake, Va., and 30-year-old Eric Canori of Wilton were charged Tuesday with conspiring to possess and distribute more than 100 kilograms of marijuana.
Authorities said they seized nearly 400 pounds of pot from the truck and from Canori’s home outside Saratoga Springs, 25 miles north of Albany.
Giove and Canori were in the custody of U.S. Marshals pending detention hearings Thursday afternoon in Albany…Â Details
Lance Armstrong’s Astana team appears ready to participate in the Tour de France after reaching an agreement with its Kazakh backers to solve financial problems that have plagued the team this year.
Astana riders have held repeated protests since April over debts owed by the Kazakh Cycling Federation, putting the team’s participation in the Tour in doubt.
Astana issued a statement on Thursday saying team leader Johan Bruyneel, its managing company Olympus Sarl and the cycling federation had settled their differences during a meeting with a Kazakh government representative and that the debts had been paid…Â Details
Tour de France organizers banned former world champion Tom Boonen from next month’s race after the Belgian rider tested positive for cocaine for the second time in less than year.
The 28-year-old Boonen’s latest positive test came in April. The Quick Step team rider previously tested positive for the drug in May 2008 and was banned by Tour organizers from last year’s event.
“Following Tom Boonen’s recent test, after a first test in 2008, the Tour de France, after meeting Quick Step team representatives, can only state that the image and behavior of Tom Boonen do not match the Tour de France’s image or the one that should be promoted by such an exceptional champion,†the Amaury Sport Organization said in a statement… Details