Food supplement maker to sue Keisse

Maximize Europe bvba is suing Iljo Keisse for claiming that its food supplements contained the forbidden product for which he tested positive.

Keisse tested positive for cathine and HCT, a diuretic, last fall after the final day of the Gent Six Day race. The 26-year-old said that the cathine came from cold and flu tablets he had taken.

At his hearing earlier this month, Keisse's attorney Johnny Maeschalck claimed that the HCT was in the ZMT food supplement supplied by Maximize, which sponsors Keisse's former team, Topsport Vlaanderen.

The company had its products tested by several independent laboratories, and no trace of HCT was found. In a press release, Maximize also claimed that Aminolabs, which produces the supplement, has never bought or otherwise obtained HCT, so that there is no possibility of contamination.(SW)