Belgian rider Tom Boonen banned from Tour de France after positive test for cocaine

Belgian rider Boonen banned from Tour de France

PARIS — Tour de France organizers banned former world champion Tom Boonen from next month’s race after the Belgian rider tested positive for cocaine for the second time in less than year.

The 28-year-old Boonen’s latest positive test came in April. The Quick Step team rider previously tested positive for the drug in May 2008 and was banned by Tour organizers from last year’s event.

“Following Tom Boonen’s recent test, after a first test in 2008, the Tour de France, after meeting Quick Step team representatives, can only state that the image and behavior of Tom Boonen do not match the Tour de France’s image or the one that should be promoted by such an exceptional champion,” the Amaury Sport Organization said in a statement.

ASO said that Boonen, who was resting between the spring classics and the preparation races for the Tour when he tested positive, was entitled to take an appeal against their decision to the French Olympic Committee.

Despite the Tour ban, the ruling International Cycling Union said Thursday that it would not take any sanctions against the rider.

“The UCI Management Committee has decided not to institute disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Tom Boonen for having allegedly taken cocaine out of competition, after the Belgian rider supplied a number of elements in his defense,” the UCI said in a statement.

Boonen only resumed cycling this month and raced in the Dauphine Libere criterium last week.

In advance of the Tour verdict, Quick Step manager Patrick Lefevre had threatened to take legal action and seek financial compensation if Boonen were to be excluded from the prestigious three-week race held from July 4-26.

Boonen is one of the world’s best sprinters and one-day classic riders. In 2007, he won the Tour’s green jersey as best sprinter. He has already proved his form this season by winning Paris-Roubaix for a third time.