Prosecutors branded Lithuanian cyclist Raimondas Rumsas "a coward" during a criminal trial in the Alpine resort of Bonneville on Thursday after describing how the third-place Tour de France finisher had allowed his wife to sit in jail as he avoided facing charges for the importation of prohibited doping substances.

Rumsas finished third overall on the 2002 Tour de France, on the last day of which his wife Edita was caught by customs police with a car boot full of growth hormones, EPO (erythropoietin) and other banned substances.

She claimed they were medicine for her mother and was eventually released on bail after being detained for 75 days.

On Thursday the state prosecutor requested a six-month suspended sentence for Edita Rumsas. The prosecutor recommended only an eight-month suspended sentence for the cyclist in the case as well.

Prosecutors said that the Polish doctor who allegedly prescribed the drugs - Krzysztof Ficek - could face actual prison time.

"I consider the doctor to be the principle actor in this case, because he is an expert and had the power to warn them (Rumsas) of the consequences," said the state prosecutor.

Ficek, however, did not appear for the trial. The court said it will deliver judgment on January 26, 2006.

Raimondas Rumsas, who despite suspicions has proclaimed his innocence throughout the affair, was suspended by his Lampre team in May 2003 after failing a dope test for EPO during the Giro d'Italia.

While his wife faced repeated interrogation by police and customs officers when she was held in custody for over two months here in 2002, Rumsas returned to his native Lithuania where the public and the authorities gave him the benefit of the doubt and celebrated his third place finish on the race.

It was for this reason that the former cyclist - he is now unemployed and complained that the affair has ruined his chances of doing otherwise - was particularly targeted by the prosecutor Vincent Le Pannerer.

"In short, his wife faced up to the problem while her husband stole away. She has courage, he has been a coward," said the prosecutor. In the witness box Edita Rumsas spoke through an interpreter for over two hours trying to explain the contradictions which accompanied each version of events over the seven times she has been questioned by the authorities.

The lawyer for the French cycling federation, who are civil witnesses in the trial, said Edita Rumsas's version of events was "pathetic."

"Even though she is doing everything possible to protect her husband Madame Rumsas is pathetic," said the lawyer Paul Mauriac.

Her husband Raimondas Rumsas, 33, refused at first to confirm his identity and during his 90-minute stay appeared to be bitter over the affair.

“Before all of this I was a professional cyclist. Now, I'm unemployed," complained Rumsas.

Rumsas said that only a small amount of the substances found on his wife were destined for his use, although he said that none of the products were for doping purposes.

The former cyclist's lawyer Alexandre Varaut hit out at his client being tried for doping, which he said was not the purpose of the trial.