Mustafa Sayar (Torku Seker Spor) won the Tour of Turkey in April, His performances were openly questioned by some of his colleagues back then, including Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano). Now the Turk has returned a positive A sample for EPO, the UCI announced yesterday.

The positive test comes from the Tour d’Algérie, held in the middle of March. In this race, Sayar finished second overall and won the mountain classification. The rider may now request an analysis of the B sample, and if this confirms the positive, Sayar stands to lose all results from the date of the test forward, including his victory in the Tour of Turkey.

This is the second time in a row that the winner of the Turkish race has tested positive: In 2012 the race was won by Ivailo Gabrovski (also riding for Konya Torku Seker Spor), but he was stripped of his victory after a positive test from the third stage of the race.