By Susan Westemeyer
Patrik Sinkewitz says that his positive doping test for testosterone was a "major mistake" and caused by his own "great stupidity". Sinkewitz tested positive for testosterone during a training camp in June, with the results being announced during the Tour de France after he had crashed out of the event, breaking his own nose and putting a 78 year-old spectator into a coma. On Tuesday morning he declined to have the B-sample tested, resulting in his German T-Mobile squad terminating his contract.
In a statement published Tuesday afternoon on his website patrik-sinkewitz.com he explained the situation. "I had gotten Testogel, which is offered by the firm Jenapharm to compensate for testosterone deficit," read the statement. "The gel is applied to the skin and gets into the body that way. It is supposed to especially help recovery after hard training. Without thinking, and in great stupidity, I had secretly applied Testogel to my upper arm on the night before the doping control at the training camp in France. I did this instinctively and without thinking of the possible consequences.
"It was major mistake and it was irresponsible of me to the team, my colleagues, the sponsor and all of cycling to have used the Testogel," he confessed. "I would have been able to perform well without it, and I did exactly that, which T-Mobile Team, with its enormous engagement and as an example to others, wanted to prevent. I am very sorry for that."
Sinkewitz is the second of the magenta squad's riders to be dismissed this season, having already released Serhiy Honchar from its ranks with the rider recording irregularities in blood tests.
"My confession should be my first step towards making things right," he declared. "I will be available to the Bund Deutscher Radfahrer [German Cycling Federation - ed] and their independent commission. I hope for, and will do all that I can, that a new cycling sport, without doping and with all its athletic fascination, can exist.
"I wish that all cycling teams, especially 'my' T-Mobile Team, will continue to stay on this path and will not let themselves be scared off by the happenings of which I was a part," he concluded.
