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Visma | Doping case solved: Lease-a-Bike rider suspended for contaminated medication

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After helping Primoz Roglic to victory in the 2023 Giro d’Italia, Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider Michel Hessmann was suspended by the team after testing positive for a diuretic during an out-of-competition test. It has been a long and sometimes confusing battle to find out exactly what happened; but the German rider will be able to return to racing within a month as the case has been resolved.

“The NADA has now concluded that it is plausible that Hessmann took a contaminated drug such as paracetamol, ibuprofen or naproxen,” Visma said in a press release on Friday afternoon. “External experts had previously reached this conclusion and the German judiciary had already dismissed the case in January.” Hessmann had argued that the positive test may have been due to the drug’s contamination, and the German anti-doping agency has concluded that this possibility is plausible and that the presence of the substance may not have been intentional.


Hessmann was suspended from the team following this discovery and has not raced since. The B-test had confirmed the presence of the substance and, due to Germany’s strict regulations against rule violations, even a prison sentence was under consideration. However, Hessmann got the best possible case as he was able to prove the likelihood of contamination. Despite this, he still has to serve another month of his four-month suspension.

“However, the NADA also believes that the risk of contaminated medication lies with the athlete and has therefore proposed to Hessmann the shortest possible ban of four months, with retroactive effect of three months,” the team explains. “The driver accepted this today. This means he is banned for at least another month. After that, Michel Hessmann and the team will consider how to proceed.”

Whether or not Hessmann will stay with the Dutch team after this case is unclear. The 23-year-old has a contract until the end of this season. In 2022, he finished third in the overall standings of the Tour de l’Avenir (better known as the Tour de France for under-23s), only behind fellow pros Cian Uijtdebroeks and Johannes Staune-Mittet, both of whom are currently teammates at Visma.

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