Tour de France seeks to bar two riders

LIMOGES, France -- Tour de France organizers have asked that two riders being investigated for suspected doping be withdrawn from the race.

Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc said Monday that organizers don't want the riders, Stefano Casagranda and Martin Hvastija, to start Tuesday's ninth leg.

Leblanc said the organizers of cycling's premier race have asked the riders' teams to withdraw them.

"The two team directors have been informed, (the riders) will not be at the start tomorrow," Leblanc said. "According to our rules of conduct, we do not want the serenity of the competition disrupted by their presence in the race."

Hvastija, of Slovenia, was 124th overall in the standings, and Casagranda, of Italy, 155th after eight stages.

Before the start of the Tour, organizers said all riders "implicated in a judicial inquiry or under police investigation" would not be able to race.

On Friday, Belgian cyclist Christophe Brandt was sent home after testing positive for methadone, a drug used to help recovering heroin addicts.

Brandt suggested that a laboratory error might be to blame and said he was awaiting results of a second test.