Spain's Daniel Clavero, seventh in the Tour of Spain, was thrown out of the race before yesterday's 20th stage after failing a blood test.

His Vitalicio Seguros team-mate Jose Carlos Dominguez was also expelled after the International Cycling Union (UCI) testers had made their early-morning call at five team hotels in Segovia.

The decision means both riders will miss the world road championships at Valkenburg, Netherlands, which begin on October 6th, as they will have to wait 15 days before they can be re-tested to see if their haematocrit level is safe.

Tour of Spain organisers said Alex Zuelle, the winner of the last two editions, was clear when he was tested yesterday. The tests were brought in last year by the UCI to protect "the health, safety, and welfare" of riders. Anyone with a blood concentration, known as the haematocrit level, which exceeds 50 per cent is considered unfit to race.

In their original statement, issued in January 1997, the UCI said it was not an anti-doping test, and that an unacceptable haematocrit level could be caused by reasons other than doping with erythropoietin (EPO), the blood-enhancing substance, was at the root of the drugs purge on the Tour de France.

Other teams tested yesterday included those of Tour leader Abraham Olano and Frenchman Laurent Jalabert and Spain's Fernando Escartin.