Sporting Digest: Cycling

PASCAL LINO, the leading French rider in last year's Tour de France, was banned from competitive cycling for six months yesterday after failing a drugs test last month. The French federation suspended Lino after he was found to have taken amphetamines at the Amstel Gold race in the Netherlands on 24 April.

TOUR OF ITALY Sixth stage (130km, Villafranca Tirrena to Messina, It unless stated): 1 G Bontempi 3hr 6min 44sec; 2 A Baffi; 3 G Bugno; 4 M Ghirotto; 5 D Konyshev (Rus); 6 L Brochard (Fr); 7 F Chioccioli; 8 M Fondriest; 9 U Bolts (Ger); 10 M Saligari all same time. Overall: 1 M Argentin 25hr 37min 21sec; 2 P Ugrumov (Lith) +26sec; 3 Fondriest +35; 4 Bugno +38; 5 M Indurain (Sp) s/t; 6 Saligari +41; 7 L Leblanc (Fr) +42; 8 E Zaina +44; 9 Konyshev +46; 10 C Chiappucci +47; 15 S Roche (Irl) +55.

K-MART CLASSIC Third stage (220km, Elkins, West Virginia, to White Sulphur Springs): 1 M Elliott (Eng) 6hr 11min 56sec; 2 A Piziks (Latv); 3 R Gaggioli (US) same time. Overall: 1 L Armstrong (US) 10hr 21min 30sec; 2 M Engleman (US) +14sec; 3= Elliott and B Walton (Can) +2min 5sec.