Tests show Pantani and Ullrich used EPO during 1998 Tour

The report released the results of samples collected during the race that were then retested in 2004.

A test to detect the presence of EPO was introduced in 2000. Four years later, France's anti-doping agency decided to retest urine samples from the 1998 and 1999 Tours using the new technology.

Eighteen riders were found to have tested positive for EPO while a further 12 were said to have suspicious samples.

Contrary to earlier reports, American Bobby Julich, who finished third in the race, was not on the positive list but was listed as suspicious.

Green jersey winner Erik Zabel was another who tested positive while French cycling legend Laurent Jalabert, who twice won both the points classification and the mountain classification on the Tour, was also on the positives list.

Jalabert withdrew with his team from the 1998 Tour after protesting that all riders were being labelled as cheats following the Festina doping scandal when large quantities of doping products were found by police.

As expected, Britain's Chris Boardman, who wore the yellow jersey at the start of the race and is a strong anti-doping spokesperson, is not on either list.

Even before the report was released it had drawn criticism from the professional cyclists' union the CPA.

"Publication of a list amounts... to an accusation of doping without any means of defence," they said last Friday.

The union is unhappy because none of the samples can be reanalysed because they no longer exist.

In October 2012 Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France wins by the UCI for using performance-enhancing drugs.

The medical stubs enclosed in the 918-page report, when compared against a separate list of test results, revealed that Armstrong tested positive for EPO in 1999.

Pantani, who also won the Giro d'Italia in 1998, died of a cocaine overdose in February 2004 aged 34.

His career was overshadowed by doping scandals. He was thrown out of the 1999 Giro while leading the race for failing a blood haematocrit test - an indicator, though not proof, of the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

In 2002 he was suspended for six months after a syringe containing insulin was found in his hotel room during the 2001 Giro.

Last month Jan Ullrich finally admitted to blood doping but remains adamant that it was not cheating.

"I did not take anything that the others did not take. Cheating starts for me when I gain an advantage. That was not the case. I wanted to have equal chances," he said.

Pantani is still officially listed as the winner of the 1998 Tour and Ullrich the 1997 edition.

Just three days after the end of the recent 100th Tour, an event that was dogged by persistent speculation about doping, the 21-member parliamentary group said a "truth and reconciliation" commission should be created to lift the veil of silence on illegal practices.

The group recommended that the French government finance studies about the extent of doping, its risks and the range of drugs used.

"We cannot properly fight something that we don't understand," parliamentarian Jean-Jacques Lozach, the group's spokesman, told journalists.

"Speaking of doping doesn't harm sport but instead contributes in the medium and long term to restore its greatness. Not speaking about it often means not doing anything."

The five-month investigation by the Senate group looked at 18 different sports and interviewed 138 individuals. Not all their names were disclosed.

It recommended that sporting calendars be approved by the sports minister to reduce the taxing schedules that it said created favourable conditions for doping, while blood and urine samples should be used to test for more substances at the same time to cut down on the volume of samples and streamline the testing process.

The inquiry revealed an "incredible inability" for different organisations to work together and share information.

Lozach said: "The anti-doping fight would be a lot more effective if the different actors in sports, law enforcement and justice cooperated."

The World Anti-Doping Agency welcomed the inquiry's findings and said it would "consider the recommendations of the report thoroughly".

The riders named were:

Andrea Tafi, Erik Zabel, Bo Hamburger, Laurent Jalabert, Marcos Serrano, Jens Heppner, Jeroen Blijlevens, Nicola Minali, Mario Cipollini, Fabio Sacchi, Eddy Mazzoleni, Jacky Durand, Abraham Olano, Laurent Desbiens, Marco Pantani, Manuel Beltran, Jan Ullrich (twice), Kevin Livingston

Suspicious:

Ermanno Brignoli, Alain Turicchia, Pascal Chanteur, Frederic Moncassin, Bobby Julich, Roland Meier, Giuseppe Calcaterra, Stefano Zanini, Eddy Mazzoleni, Stephane Barthe, Stuart O'Grady, Axel Merckx