SPA, Belgium - French sports minister Roselyne Bachelot is taking a wait-and-see approach when it comes to Floyd Landis' allegations that seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong doped during his career.
Landis, stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title for doping, gave the Wall Street Journal new details about his use of banned products in a story published last week and accused Armstrong of receiving blood transfusions during the 2004 Tour.
Landis also said some of the bikes provided to Armstrong's team were sold to help the former U.S. Postal Service team fund his doping program.
Armstrong, who is competing in his last Tour this year, denied the accusations and compared them to a "carton of sour milk."
"I'm not a sports minister who condemns before having received serious evidence," Bachelot said Monday before the Tour's second stage. "There is an inquiry in the United States, and the people who are conducting it are not known for being lax. They've gotten some high-profile sportsmen on their list of conquests."
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Five-time Tour de France winner Eddy Merckx was impressed by Armstrong's prologue Saturday and believes the Texan's aging legs still can carry him to an eighth Tour win.
Merckx said Armstrong, 38, is not too old to win the race and rated him among the favorites behind defending champion Alberto Contador.
"Too old? No, not at all," Merckx said. "Look at his prologue, he showed he is in a great condition and can achieve great things here."
Horner furious
American rider Chris Horner, one of Armstrong's teammates, slammed Tour de France organizers after more than half of the peloton crashed during Monday's rain-affected second stage, saying the course was "dangerous."
"There is too much on the line," Horner said. "The climax of (Monday's) stage was watching everybody crash on the descent."
