The Tour de France can't avoid doping scandals — even when the rider isn't even in the race.

a preliminary test before the Tour detected high levels of testosterone in Germany's Patrik Sinkewitz — the disclosure coming only days after his T-Mobile teammate Linus Gerdemann led a rallying cry against doping.

Sinkewitz withdrew from the Tour on Sunday after colliding with a spectator following the second of three Alpine stag

"For German cycling it's not so positive," said Gerdemann, who after winning Saturday's stage and taking the leader's yellow jersey for a day, railed against cheating.

It went almost unnoticed that Cedric Vasseur became the first French rider to claim a stage this year, winning the final sprint of Wednesday's 142.6-mile trek