Belgian court acquits Vandenbroucke of doping

BRUSSELS, Mar 14 (Reuters) A Belgian court of appeal acquitted cyclist Frank Vandenbroucke of doping offences today, ruling that the one-day specialist had already been punished with a sporting suspension.

''He was acquitted on the basis that you cannot be punished for the same offence twice,'' a prosecution spokesman said.

A police raid on Vandenbroucke's home in 2002 had revealed EPO and other performance-enhancing substances, the spokesman said.

He was initially sentenced to 200 hours of community service by a Belgian court but took his case all the way to Belgium's supreme court, which ordered the appeals chamber to deliver a new verdict.

The 32-year-old Belgian, who won the Liege-Bastogne-Liege race and two stages of Spain's Vuelta in 1999, served a six-month suspension from the sport in 2002.

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