Keisse fired for doping

Team Topsport-Vlaanderen fired Iljo Keisse on Monday, following the official notification that the Belgian rider's B sample had come back positive. The Six-Day rider tested positive for two substances, cathine and hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ), at the Gent Six Day Race the end of November.

The Professional Continental team suspended Keisse after the A sample came back positive, and has now dismissed him. "We could do nothing else but take this drastic step," manager Christophe Sercu told Sporza.be . "It says so in his contract, which he has to hold to."

Keisse continues to plead innocent, saying that while the cathine may have come from an over-the-counter cold medication he took, he does not know how the HCTZ could have come into his body.

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