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Brussels - Former Olympic cycling champion Alexandre Vinokourov, accused of buying his victory in the Liege-Bastogne-Liege race in 2010, on Monday called for the case to be thrown out by Belgian investigators.
The 43-year-old Kazakh - the 2012 London Games road race winner - denies agreeing a deal with Russian Alexandr Kolobnev hundreds of metres before the finish line while they were both leading the Belgian classic race.
Vinokourov is alleged to have agreed to pay Kolobnev €150 000 to win the race.
The case is based on email exchanges between the riders as well as two payments of €100 000 and €50 000 made in July and December of that year.
Both have denied buying or selling the race but prosecutors are pushing for them to answer before a court in Liege.
A decision will be made on Friday.
"There are not many elements in the file, the evidence is thin, and if the case were to be referred to the criminal court, we will represent ourselves with serenity," Vinokourov's lawyer said.
