Italian cyclist Massimiliano Lelli has been charged with drug trafficking, judicial sources said.

The 36-year-old was one of nine people being investigated as part of a judicial inquiry into the alleged use of illegal substances by the Cofidis team.

Britain's top cyclist David Millar was handed a two-year ban and stripped of his world time trial title by the British cycling federation after admitting to French police that he had taken the banned blood booster erythropoietin (EPO) in 2001 and 2003.

He also admitted to taking the drug with Lelli.

The French drug squad has been investigating doping allegations involving the Cofidis team since March last year.

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