Photo Gallery Tour de Dope
A shadow was cast over the Tour de France on Wednesday when a T-Mobile team member tested positive for doping. German public television immediately cut their coverage of the race.
Two German public stations, ARD and ZDF, were working together to provide coverage of the race back home. Revelations that a blood sample taken from German racer Patrik Sinkewitz tested positive for elevated testosterone have belied the race's efforts to clean up its act.
A list of riders to be checked for doping on Wednesday. All riders pledged that they were clean prior to the beginning of this year's Tour.
Even before the race started, many had lost faith in professional cycling. A number of riders from team Telekom -- as T-Mobile used to be called -- admitted this spring to having doped in the 1990s.
A German television crew member dismantling the setup in France. The ZDF station has said it would attempt to get recompense from Tour organizers.
More and more tests are carried out on cyclists in an effort to cut down on the pharma-abuse. Here, overall race leader Michael Rasmussen from Denmark sits in the doping control tent on Wednesday.
T-Mobile had said before the Tour started this year that it wanted to be a leader in the fight against doping. One of its riders tested positive on Wednesday.
Last year, the Tour seemed to have hit bottom when Tour winner Floyd Landis tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone.
Patrik Sinkewitz was supposed to be part of the newer, cleaner T-Mobile team. Turns out, he wasn't.
Sinkewitz getting his medical check-up prior to the beginning of this year's Tour de France. T-Mobile is now considering backing out of professional cycling altogether.
Sinkewitz was no longer racing in the Tour following a collision on Monday with a spectator. He broke his nose in the crash and was scheduled to undergo surgery on his jaw.
