A Spanish court on Tuesday sentenced a medical doctor who performed blood transfusions on top cyclists to a year in prison for endangering public health in a case keenly watched because of claims the practice extended to other sports. Judge Julia Patricia Santamaria said that Eufemiano Fuentes, 57, offered the blood doping treatments for money, posing a "significant risk to the health" of those receiving the blood. She refused however to release to sporting authorities bags of blood seized from Fuentes which could identify other sportsmen he treated.

A Spanish court on Tuesday sentenced a medical doctor who performed blood transfusions on top cyclists to a year in prison for endangering public health in a case keenly watched because of claims the practice extended to other sports. Judge Julia Patricia Santamaria said that Eufemiano Fuentes, 57, offered the blood doping treatments for money, posing a "significant risk to the health" of those receiving the blood.

The US Justice Department filed a formal complaint Tuesday against Lance Armstrong, saying the doping-disgraced cyclist and team owners defrauded the US Postal Service of sponsorship money. The government, which said in February that it would join a whistle-blower lawsuit brought by former Armstrong teammate Floyd Landis in 2010, says the USPS spent about $40 million in sponsor money and gave Armstrong $17 million.

By Julien Pretot PARIS (Reuters) - Lance Armstrong returned four samples with traces of banned corticosteroids in the 1999 Tour de France, the International Cycling Union (UCI) said on Wednesday, although the governing body added it did not handle them as positive tests. On Tuesday the Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad published a copy of an alleged internal UCI memo which said a lawyer for the sport's ruling body had said the American's samples from the 1999 showed traces of corticosteroids on four occasions.