Boonen tests positive for cocaine again

Brussels - Former cycling world champion Tom Boonen faces a criminal investigation but no sports sanctions after testing positive for cocaine again, Belgian news reports said on Saturday.

The reports said that Boonen tested positive at an out-of-competition test in late April, around two weeks after winning the Paris-Roubaix classic for the third time in his career on April 12.

The 2005 world champion Boonen tested positive for cocaine for the first time last year. He was excluded from the Tour de France and Tour de Suisse by race organizers but escaped additional sanctions because he did not test positive in competition.

A Belgian court ruled in January that the exclusion from the two races were enough punishment for Boonen. But he now faces a criminal investigation because the court also ordered him at the time to stay away from drugs. (dpa)