The route of the 2010 Tour de France will be revealed in Paris this lunchtime against the backdrop of a public health investigation reportedly launched into several teams, including that of Lance Armstrong, the seven-times Tour winner, and Alberto Contador, the reigning champion.

Reports in Le Monde and L’Équipe, the French newspapers, stated that public health officials are studying medical waste involving a number of teams, including Astana, for whom Contador and Armstrong ride. Prosecutors have not yet targeted individual riders or specific teams.

However, the contents of several “suspect” syringes, disposed of by Astana during this year’s Tour, are reportedly being studied by staff at the Toxlab government laboratory, in Paris.

L’Équipe reported that “syringes, used by the team of race winner Alberto Contador, were sent to the Parisian forensics laboratory Toxlab of Professor Gilbert Pépin and are currently being analysed to determine their contents”.

The investigation was apparently opened after “suspicious items” were allegedly found among bags of medical waste delivered to the company contracted by the Tour to handle their disposal.

French prosecutors stated that “suspect medical devices”, including syringes and bags used for intravenous drips, will undergo further analysis.

In a statement, Astana said: “These media reports are the first we as a team have heard of an investigation. The Astana Cycling Team has nothing to hide, the riders use no forbidden substances, the team is confident in the result of analyses performed or to be performed by a Parisian laboratory and is prepared to co-operate.”

News of the investigation came 24 hours after the sudden death of Frank Vandenbroucke, the Belgian rider, who died while on holiday in Senegal on Monday. The 34-year-old was found dead in his hotel room with early reports indicating that he died of a pulmonary embolism.

However, in an echo of the death of Marco Pantani, the 1998 Tour de France champion, in a hotel room in Rimini in 2004, it was later reported that several medications were found beside Vandenbroucke’s bed.

Although widely considered to be the most talented Belgian cyclist since Eddy Merckx, the five-times Tour de France winner, Vandenbroucke’s career was blighted by personal turmoil and depression. After achieving significant success as a young professional with victories in races such as Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Paris-Nice, Vandenbroucke was tipped as a contender for Tour de France success.

However, a series of high-profile incidents, that included drink-driving offences, violent domestic episodes and long-running doping investigations, caused his career to spiral out of control.