Jeannie Longo (l) gets off her bike in Stuttgart after her failed hour world record attempt. On the right, her husband and coach Patrice Ciprelli. Photo, archive: Eric Cabanis Photo: dpa
Paris (dpa) - The husband and coach of French cycling legend Jeannie Longo, Patrice Ciprelli, has been given a suspended sentence for importing the blood doping agent EPO.
A court in Grenoble in eastern France handed down a one-year suspended prison sentence, as reported by the French news agency AFP. Ciprelli was accused of buying a total of 33 doses of EPO from abroad via the internet between 2008 and 2011.
His lawyer has not yet decided whether Ciprelli will appeal against the judgement. The defence lawyer had argued in court that there was no legal basis for a conviction. Ciprelli's wife Jeannie Longo was not accused of anything in the proceedings. The cyclist had won three victories in the Tour Cycliste Féminin, the women's Tour de France, in the 1980s.
