PARIS — French anti-doping authorities say that retests of blood samples from 17 riders at the 2008 Tour de France have all come back clean.

Pierre Bordry, head of the anti-doping agency known as AFLD, "rejoiced" that the tests all came back negative. He declined to identify the cyclists involved.

Bordry also said he was surprised at the lack of positive tests at this year's Tour, but reiterated his earlier criticism of cycling's governing body for not acting in accordance with World Anti-Doping Agency rules.

He said Wednesday: "What's surprising is that the UCI doesn't run its controls in line with the rules. That permits things, but we can't show it because the controls were negative. We can have questions, but we can't go beyond that."