One week before the start of the Tour de France, Visma-Lease a Bike announced the suspension of one of its riders.
The verdict is in. Testing positive for chortalidone last spring, Michel Hessmann knows his sanction. Jonas Vingegaard’s teammate was in fact sentenced to four months with a retroactive effect of three months from the German anti-doping agency (NADA), announced the Visma-Lease a Bike team, which had dismissed its rider.
Michel Hessmann had tested positive during an out-of-competition test, revealing the presence of this diuretic, which can be used to falsify the results of an anti-doping test. Like external experts commissioned by the German courts, who closed the case in January, NADA considers that the German rider probably “took a contaminated medicine such as paracetamol, ibuprofen or naproxen”.
However, NADA considers that the athlete’s responsibility remains engaged and therefore imposed the lightest sanction. A suspension accepted by the rider, who could return to competition next month. Its future nonetheless remains uncertain. “After that, Michel Hessmann and the team will think about the way forward”concluded the Visma-Lease a Bike while Michel Hessmann will be at the end of his contract at the end of the year.
