Sports other than cycling are involved in the Spanish anti-doping probe which has rocked the Tour de France, claims the head of cycling's governing body.
International Cycling Union (UCI) president Pat McQuaid said: "Only riders have been named so far.

"But many footballers, tennis players and athletes are on the list.

"Two years ago, (former UCI president) Hein Verbruggen warned the authorities because the UCI knew that blood doping was a common practice in Spain."

A six-month doping investigation in Spain, nicknamed Operation Puerta, led to the arrests of five men, including Manolo Saiz, who recently resigned as boss of the Liberty-Seguros team, now renamed Astana-Wurth.

The scandal erupted on 23 May when the Guardia Civil raided a number of addresses and found anabolic steroids and packs of frozen blood.

Astana-Wurth were forced to withdraw their team en masse before the start of the Tour de France after five of their riders were named among a list of around 56 cyclists by the investigation team.

In all, 13 riders were withdrawn by their teams from the Tour, including two of the favourites, German Jan Ullrich and Italian Ivan Basso.

The scandal is the biggest doping controversy to hit cycling since the Festina affair rocked the 1998 Tour.