MOSCOW, June 7 (R-Sport) – Russian cyclist Nikita Novikov has been slapped with a provisional suspension by the International Cycling Union after testing positive for a banned substance.
The out-of-competition test, taken last month, revealed traces of hydroxy-ostarine and o-dephenyl-ostarine - both of which promote muscle growth - in the 23-year-old rider's urine.
In response to the ICU's decision, which was announced Friday, Vacansoleil-DCM, Novikov's Dutch team, said it was suspending the cyclist until the test results of his B sample are complete.
"It needs no clarification that as a team we are devastated by this," manager Daan Luijkx said. "As a team you try to give your riders a safe environment with good coaching and staff and that makes it very disappointing when a rider does something wrong, like it appears this is the case now.
Novikov has competed in 10 races in 2013, with his best result coming in last month's Tour du Nord Pas-de-Calais when he finished 14th in the general classification and sixth in the youth classification. In 2011, as a member of Russia's Itera-Katusha, he won the Tour de Slovaquie and the Tour des Pays de Savoie.
Luijkx, who signed Novikov in 2012, said the cyclist told him he "had no idea" how the substance found its way into his body.
Novikov is the second Russian rider to be suspended for doping in the last two months after Euskaltel-Euskadi's Alexander Serebryakov testing positive in early April.
