Spanish rider Mayo tests positive

MADRID, Spain -- Spanish climbing specialist Iban Mayo became the latest rider to fail a drugs test after it was revealed he had tested positive for EPO during the Tour de France, it was announced by his Saunier Duval team on Monday.

The 29-year-old, who finished 16th in the Tour behind compatriot Alberto Contador, has been suspended by his team.

"The Saunier Duval team were notified by the International Cycling Union (UCI) that Iban Mayo had tested positive for EPO following a test on July 24 which was a rest day on the Tour de France," read a statement on the team's website.

"In line with the fight against doping that the team fully support, the rider is immediately suspended until the B sample has been tested. If that is confirmed as positive as well, we will proceed to rescind his contract."

Saunier Duval sports director Josean Fernandez said: "It's an unpleasant surprise. He has never been a rider under suspicion, in fact he is completely the opposite. He has always passed the UCI's tests and the internal controls. It's bad news."

French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) president Pierre Bordry confirmed the agency had known there would be another positive test.

"This is regrettable," he said. "We knew there was another positive test. I hope there won't be any other. We'll know in the next five days whether there is." The UCI and Tour organisers were not immediately available for comment.

If it is confirmed, Mayo will be the third rider to have tested positive on the Tour.

Pre-race favorite Alexandre Vinokourov was thrown out of the race last Tuesday for homologous blood doping while veteran Cristian Moreni was ejected the day after for failing a test.

Then race leader Michael Rasmussen -- whose participation had been queried in any case because of not making himself available for four drugs tests in 18 months -- was thrown out by his Rabobank team later on Wednesday for lying about his whereabouts in June. He said he had been in Mexico when in fact he had been sighted in Italy.

It is not the first time Mayo has been implicated in a doping story as last month he was suspected of having failed a test in the Giro d'Italia. However, he was cleared by the UCI.

Mayo was reported to have tested positive for testosterone, the banned male sex hormone which snared Floyd Landis on his way to victory in last year's Tour de France.

But the UCI said in a statement that Mayo, who was tested following his victory on the 19th stage to Terme di Comano, had not breached doping rules.

In his prime as part of the Basque Euskaltel team, the 29-year-old Mayo was one of the few riders capable of challenging the dominance of Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrich on the Tour de France mountain stages.

He won the stage to Alpe d'Huez in 2003, and won the Dauphine Libere stage race, an important build-up to the Tour, in 2004.

He had shown signs of a return to form this season when he won a stage on the Giro.

T-Mobile rider Patrik Sinkewitz has withdrawn a request for a second sample to be tested after his initial positive result for elevated levels of testosterone led the team to suspend him, his lawyer said on Tuesday.

Sinkewitz's decision to skip the B test would likely lead to the termination of his team contract, T-Mobile communications director Christian Frommert told reporters.

"The fact that Mr Sinkewitz has decided not to go forward with the B test means that he has acknowledged the results of the A test. We thus have a doping case," Frommert added.

The German rider was forced to retire from the Tour de France on July 16 through injury following a crash with a spectator after the eighth stage.

Two days later, Germany's National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) told the German cycling federation (BDR) that a test on a first sample Sinkewitz gave in training on June 8 showed high levels of the male sex hormone.

Sinkewitz, who broke his nose and suffered a shoulder injury in the accident, could now face a two-year suspension and be forced to repay T-Mobile a year's salary.

The 26-year-old had until now denied any wrongdoing. E-mail to a friend