How to make friends...

Belgian cyclist Kevin van Impe was taken for a routine drugs test just as he was at the crematorium filling in administrative formalities following the death of his baby son, media reported Saturday.

The Quick Step rider was at Lochristi crematorium when a drugs tester turned up and demanded he provide a sample, warning that otherwise he could face a two-year suspension.

"He wouldn't even come back later in the day. It was either do it right on the spot or it would be taken as if I had refused," van Impe told website www.sport.be.

Van Impe was arranging the funeral of son Jayden, born prematurely on Monday and who died just six hours later.

Asked to comment on the incident Flemish minister for sport Bert Anciaux said authorities were to determine how better to organise random tests to avoid a repeat in such delicate circumstances.

"The law is the law but you must take a human perspective," the Belgia news agency quoted Anciaux as saying.
"I can well understand the rider had other things on his mind at the time of the test."