Tour de France: Vincenzo Nibali praises doping controls

LONDON. KAZINFORM Italy's Vincenzo Nibali has praised the work of cycling's anti-doping agencies as he stands on the brink of his first Tour de France title.

Nibali has a lead of seven minutes 52 seconds over Frenchman Jean-Christophe Peraud going into Sunday's final stage. Barring major disaster, Nibali will complete the set of three Grand Tours, BBC News reports. "If there had not been all these controls, targeted controls, the biological passport, maybe I would not be here," the 29-year-old said. Nibali finished 19th in the Tour in 2008, the same year the International Cycling Union (UCI) implemented the biological passport, which creates a blood profile for riders and helps detect doping. Details also at