Boonen suspended by Quick Step after failing another cocaine test

Only weeks after winning his third Paris Roubaix, former world champion Tom Boonen has been suspended by his team, Quick Step after a drugs test by Flemish authorities proved positive for cocaine use.

"He is suspended from all activities by the team," Alessandro Tegner, a Quick Step's representative said.

Boonen also failed a drugs test last year for cocaine and subesequently missed the Tour de France when Quick Step withdrew him from their team because when race organisers made it clear that his presence would not be welcomed. That failed test lead to Boonen being charged with possession of cocaine, he was found guilty by a Belgian court in February but declined to impose a criminal sanction.

However, it seems that the Belgian authorities' interest in Boonen did not end there. According to Jan Poels, a public prosecutor in the northeast Belgian town of Turnhout, this latest test followed a search of Boonen's home at the end of April in connection with a drugs investigation. He declined to say what drugs were being looked for and if any had been found.

Boonen wasn't named in Quick Step's team to race the Giro d'Italia.