on july 17, 2008, italian bicycle racer riccardo riccò was disqualified from the tour de france after reports that a urine sample tested positive for mircera. there had not previously been any public acknowledgment that a test for the new drug was being administered, or had even been developed yet. the tour de france testing was done under the auspices of the french cycling federation and the french anti-doping agency, not the union cycliste internationale.