* Katusha deny doping allegations * Team says justice has been served (adds Rodriguez quotes) By Gennady Fyodorov MOSCOW, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Katusha will be able to compete on the elite World Tour this year after the Russian team succeeded in their appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to overturn the rejection of their original application.

PARIS, Feb 14 (Reuters) - The French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) will not carry out tests on the Paris-Nice stage race this year, citing a disagreement with the International Cycling Union (UCI). "Given the serious mistakes that were made before (...) the AFLD has considered (...) that it could not lend its support to the international federation in carrying out tests on the Paris-Nice race," the AFLD said in a statement on Thursday without elaborating.

MADRID, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Former world road race champion Mario Cipollini has denied he was a patient of Eufemiano Fuentes, the Spanish doctor at the centre of the Operation Puerto trial into an alleged doping ring in cycling. Cippolini's lawyer Giuseppe Napoleone told Italian news agency ANSA allegations published in Saturday's edition of sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport were "absurd". Gazzetta reported that Cipollini was behind the codename "Maria" that appeared in documents seized as part of the Puerto investigation.

A US insurance firm filed a lawsuit against disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong on Thursday, demanding he return $12 million in bonus money paid for his Tour de France triumphs. Texas-based SCA Promotions wants the confessed dope cheat to repay money the firm paid out after insuring his Tour victories in 2002, 2003 and 2004, because he was stripped of his record seven Tour titles last year. "It is time now for Mr Armstrong to face the consequences of his actions. This includes returning all of the funds paid to him by SCA, which totals more than $12 million," the lawsuit said.