Italian cyclist Massimiliano Lelli (Cofidis) was charged Thursday with drug importing and trafficking, and with inciting the use of doping products, French judicial sources said.

The 36-year-old was one of nine subjects of a judicial inquiry into the alleged use of illegal substances by the Cofidis team, which has been under investigation in France since March 2003.

Lelli was implicated by British rider David Millar and French rider Philippe Gaumont, both of whom have been sacked by Cofidis.

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 said that he had taken the drug with Lelli. –Agence France Presse