A French court has issued an international arrest warrant for Lithuanian cyclist Raimondas Rumsas, who finished third in the 2002 Tour de France behind American winner Lance Armstrong

An investigating judge in the Alpine town of Bonneville, Franck Guesdon, is seeking Rumsas on suspicion that he imported banned substances. A similar warrant was issued for Polish doctor Krzysztof Fisek, suspected of providing the Lithuanian with the substances. Guesdon also investigated Rumsas's wife, Edita, in 2002. After the Tour de France, her car was stopped at the French border near Bonneville and was searched by customs officers. They found medical products in her car, some of which were illegal. She was driving to Italy, where Rumsas lives, and was held by French authorities for more than two months. Rumsas was banned from cycling competition for a year last year after a positive drug test during the Tour of Italy. He has denied taking performance-enhancing drugs despite two tests showing traces of EPO, or erythropoietin, which boosts the number of red blood cells in the body.