German rider Patrik Sinkewitz faced a possible life ban on Friday after he tested positive for human growth hormone (HGH) and was provisionally suspended by cycling’s world governing body.

The 30-year-old Farnese Vini-Neri rider was kicked out of the Tour de France in 2007 after it was revealed that he had failed a test for EPO a month earlier.

He is the first rider to test positive for HGH and his suspension was a further blow for German cycling four months before the start of this year’s Tour.

ARD and ZDF last month said they would not offer live coverage of the Tour in 2012, going on with their usual coverage this year under an existing agreement with the organisers.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) said the suspension followed a report from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-accredited laboratory in Lausanne of an “Adverse Analytical Finding of Recombinant Human Growth Hormone” in a blood sample collected on Feb. 27.

The sample was taken at the GP di Lugano by the UCI-authorised Antidoping Switzerland.

Sinkewitz was handed a reduced one-year ban after the 2007 test because he cooperated with cycling authorities.

German TV channels ARD and ZDF dropped their live coverage of the Tour de France that year in the wake of Sinkewitz’s positive.

In 2008, Tour of Germany organisers announced the 2009 edition of the race would be cancelled following a string of doping scandals in the sport.

Germany have no elite team after Milram ended their sponsorship at the end of last season.

In 2006, Jan Ullrich did not take part in the Tour de France after being kicked out of his T-Mobile team because of his alleged implication in the Operation Puerto blood doping scandal.