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BONN, Germany -- The T-Mobile cycling team fired Ukrainian rider Serhiy Honchar on Tuesday following the results of unannounced blood tests. T-Mobile said the 36-year-old Ukrainian, who won two stages at last year's Tour de France, had been suspended from competition since May 11 when the blood tests were taken at the Tour de Normandie. He had been under internal investigation since then. T-Mobile said Honchar violated the team's code of conduct. The German team and Danish team CSC have installed what they call the toughest anti-doping program of the 20 ProTour teams that compete at the sport's big races. "We respect the rights to privacy of all parties involved and cannot release any further information at this time," T-Mobile Team general manager Bob Stapleton said. Honchar won two time trials at the 2006 Tour de France. That gave T-Mobile a boost after doping suspicions led to the suspension of riders Jan Ullrich and Oscar Sevilla and team sporting director Rudy Pavenage on the eve of the race. Honchar won two time trials at last year's Tour de France. |