German cycling was plunged into turmoil once more today when is was revealed by the German Cycling Federation that Patrik Sinkewitz, the T-Mobile rider, had tested positive for high levels of testosterone a month before the start of the Tour de France.

Sinkewitz, who crashed out of this year’s Tour last weekend after colliding with a spectator, failed an out-of-competition test during a team training camp on June 8. He was among the Tour riders who signed an International Cycling Union (UCI) charter, prior to the start of this year's race, agreeing that he would forfeit a year’s salary if he tested positive.

“It's not possible. I know nothing about it,” Sinkewitz said, when contacted while being treated for his injuries at a Hamburg clinic. “I am about to have surgery. I can't deal with it now.”

The news was a huge setback to the T-Mobile team’s avowed intention to race clean and with credibility and comes a year after the team’s star rider, Jan Ullrich, was sacked by the sponsor due to his involvement in the Operacion Puerto doping investigation.

T-Mobile spokesman Stefan Wagner said that Sinkewitz, who was hospitalized after his collision with a spectator in Tignes, had been provisionally suspended.

Bob Stapleton, the team manager, confirmed that Sinkewitz’s contract with the German team would be terminated if his ‘B’ test confirms the result of the initial test result.

“We heard from the media that he tested positive during our Pyreenean training camp before the Tour,” Stapleton said. “It shows that we support independent testing. We do everything we can and it shows, ultimately, that athletes that do this suffer hard consequences.”

“Sinkewitz is subject to the full sanction of the sport and I think this shows that out of competition tests work. He’s been caught and that‘s healthy for the sport. It’s good for the sport in the long term. The team is completely devastated because they really believe in the team’s policy and they’re heartbroken about this.”

Sinkewitz’s positive test is the latest drama to beset T-Mobile. Earlier this spring, the team’s directeur sportif, former professional Rolf Aldag, admitted to doping, as did Erik Zabel, another rider for the team, previously branded as Telekom. A further heavy blow came when Bjarne Riis, now manager of Team CSC, admitted to doping between 1993 and 1998, including when riding for Telekom in 1996, the year of his Tour victory.

The crisis deepened when German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF suspended their coverage of the Tour pending the result of Sinkewitz’s B sample. Both broadcasters had indicated that any further doping scandals at this year’s Tour would cause an immediate re-evaluation of their interest in the Tour.

“Our contract stated that we would broadcast the Tour as a competiton of clean riders, not of people using doping substances,” an ARD spokesman said.