Michel Hessmann could face legal charges in Germany following his positive doping test from June: "It looks like something like pollution"

The Freiburg public prosecutor's office is still investigating the Michel Hessmann doping case. The German rider from Visma | Lease a Bike tested positive for a diuretic contained in medicine during an out-of-competition check on June 14, 2023. The counter-expertise confirmed this result.

Doping is a criminal offense in Germany and so the Public Prosecution Service in Germany is also involved in the case. The general expectation is that there will be more clarity about the Michel Hessmann case in February, but there is no official confirmation yet. His team Visma | Lease a Bike immediately suspended the rider last year.

Team manager Richard Plugge cannot say whether it is a contaminated supplement. In the RadioCycling podcast he said: "It looks like something like pollution, but I have no certainty about that. We have to wait for the official results from NADA."

The news of Hessmann's positive doping took the cycling world by the storm as the German was part of then Jumbo-Visma's Giro d'Italia victory and as the Dutch team was already facing certain level of suspicion after phenomenal performances in the mountains.