Gerolsteiner pull the plug after Kohl's failed test

BERLIN (AFP) - German cycling team Gerolsteiner have withdrawn from all racing with immediate effect after the failed drugs test of Austrian rider Bernhard Kohl. On Monday it was announced Kohl, the best climber at this year's Tour de France and third overall, tested positive for the latest generation of the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin), named CERA. Kohl is the second Gerolsteiner rider, and fourth from the Tour de France after Italians Riccardo Ricco and Leonardo Piepoli, to test positive for the drug along with Germany's Stefan Schumacher.Gerolsteiner's sponsorship of the team was set to come to an end at the end of this year, but the German mineral water company have decided to withdraw from the peloton with immediate effect. It means they will not race this weekend's Tour of Lombardy (Giro di Lombardia), the final one-day classic of the season. "The team will stop racing with immediate effect in accordance with our code of conduct," said a Gerolsteiner press release.

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