Local gendarmerie seized a bus from the Quick Step Tour de France team and searched it on Friday but officials said it was just a routine check.

 “They came to our hotel in Challans and took the bus to La Roche-sur-Yon (about 50-km away) in order to search it,” team spokesman Alessandro Tegner told Reuters.      

    Sports director Wilfried Peeters and the Tour police confirmed it was a random swoop.     

    “They came to the hotel and said it was for a random check,” Peeters told reporters.      

    “It was just a routine control for the Tour de France and they said they could do it in the next few weeks for other teams. They looked everywhere in the bus and we worked very well together. Everything is alright.”     

    Team buses and hotels have often been searched during the Tour de France as the sport looks to clean up its act after a series of doping scandals.     

    The Tour starts on Saturday.