ASO says rider with possible positive dope test “second tier”

MSNBC.com | Armstrong in clear in Tour doping probe - Tour de France - MSNBC.com

Like it's not bad enough to have the UCI looking into whether to bring a dope case against you, now they've gone and said the rider involved is “a second-tier rider.”

That's good news for Robbie McEwen and Lance Armstrong, the only riders absolutely known to have been tested on the day officials took the sample in question. Since McEwen won the 5th stage, and Armstrong led the race that night, they both gave urine samples, along with a random sampling of other riders.

Officials may not even bring a case, because the substance in question, norpseudoephedrine, can be created in the body from pseudoephedrine, the active ingredient in Sudafed, which is an allowed substance.