Matthias Kessler (Astana) (Image credit: Andrea Hübner)
Matthias Kessler's B-sample has also tested positive for testosterone, with an equally "exorbitantly high value" as the A-sample, according to the Sueedeutsche Zeitung, leading the newspaper to say that he had "obviously been caught in flagranti."
Kessler, who has denied doping, also gave an explanation for the positive tests. He told his attorney, Michael Lehner, that shortly before the Fleche Wallone, when he was tested positive, he swallowed the contents of four packages "with Chinese writing on them." He had received the packages from his alternative health practitioner, and assumed they were food supplements.
The German rider tested positive on April 24, and the test showed a testosterone value of 85:1, while a normal value is 4:1. Professor Wilhelm Schaenzer, leader of the Biochemistry Institute at the Sports School in Cologne, Germany, said that a natural value of over 15 to 20 is "not possible." His is currently suspended by his Astana team.
