Cycling: The German cycling federation (BDR) will begin disciplinary action against rider Stefan Schumacher today following his reported positive doping test during the Tour de France.
"The aim (of the disciplinary proceedings) will be a minimum ban of two years," the federation said in a statement on its website (www.rad-net.de).
The BDR statement did not make clear if the federation had been officially informed of the positive test result announced by Schumacher's team Gerolsteiner yesterday.
"It is a shock, but it is also good news," said BDR President Rudolf Scharping. "The ever tighter net of the anti-doping investigators is making sure that practically no-one is getting through anymore."
Gerolsteiner team manager Hans-Michael Holczer told the German sports agency SID he had been personally informed of the adverse result by Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme.
SID said Schumacher had denied doping, with the agency quoting the rider describing the allegations as "complete nonsense".
The 27-year-old Schumacher won both time trials on this year's Tour de France and wore the leader's yellow jersey for two days.
His other successes included overall victories on the 2006 Tours of Poland and Benelux and a road race bronze medal at the 2007 world championships in Stuttgart.
The news comes after Italian rider Leonardo Piepoli twice tested positive for the banned blood-boosting drug erythropoietin (EPO) at the Tour, the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) said yesterday.
"Leonardo Piepoli tested positive twice, on July 4th and 15th," AFLD president Pierre Bordry said. "The substance is EPO."
Piepoli, who has been summoned to appear before the Italian Olympic Committee on Friday, and fellow countryman Riccardo Ricco were sacked during the Tour after his Saunier Duval team mate failed a dope test.
Piepoli had not yet failed a dope test but Saunier Duval said at the time he had "violated the team's code of ethics".
The entire team quit the race when it was announced Ricco, winner of two stages in the event, tested positive.
Ricco has already been banned for two years.
Piepoli, 37, won the 10th stage of the Tour at Hautacam, a day before testing positive for the second time on the race.
He is the sixth rider to fail a dope test on the 2008 Tour, after Ricco, Spaniards Juan Manuel Beltran and Moises Duenas Nevado, Kazakh Dmitri Fofonov and France's Jimmy Casper.
Casper was cleared by the French federation last month.