19 Mar 2011

German cyclist tests positive for HGH

11:47 am on 19 March 2011

German rider Patrik Sinkewitz faces a possible life ban after testing positive for human growth hormone and being provisionally suspended by cycling's world governing body.

The 30-year-old Farnese Vini-Neri rider was kicked out of the Tour de France in 2007 after it was revealed that he had failed a test for EPO a month earlier.

He is the first rider to test positive for HGH and his suspension was a further blow for German cycling four months before the start of this year's Tour.