Tour takes stock after failed drugs test and TV car crash

Monday was a day of rest for the riders in the Tour de France but there was still plenty of controversy in a race that has already gone down as one of the most dramatic in recent years.

First there was the news of Alexandr Kolobnev's positive dope test. The Russian national champion and bronze medallist in the 2008 Olympic Games road race returned traces of the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide (HCT) in a urine sample taken after Wednesday's fifth stage. His Katusha team immediately withdrew the 30-year-old from the Tour, saying in a statement: "Alexandr Kolobnev, after testing positive for a diuretic at a medical examination during the Tour de France's first week, decided to suspend himself according to UCI rules, waiting for the B-sample... if the B-sample also tests positive, [he] will be fired and will have to pay five times his salary as a fine."

Although a diuretic commonly administered in the treatment of hypertension, hydrochlorothiazide is on the banned lists of substances because it can also be used to mask performance-enhancing drugs. Kolobnev has until the end of the week to request that his B sample be tested, but if that should come back positive he will be face a lengthy ban (probably two years) from the International Cycling Union (UCI).

Meanwhile, Team Sky are considering suing the driver of the car which careered into their Spanish rider Juan Antonio Flecha during Sunday's ninth stage. The driver of the television technician's car has apparently said he swerved to avoid a tree as he overtook Flecha, a weak excuse in the light of television footage of the incident. The Spaniard was knocked to the ground in the collision and Vacansoleil rider Johnny Hoogerland was sent flying on to a barbed wire fence. Though the Dutchman gamely got back on his bike he later required 33 stitches to various lacerations and has said ahead of Tuesday's 10th stage: "I have no idea what I will be able to do in the race. I am better on my bike than I am going up the stairs though."

Dave Brailsford, the Team Sky principal, has yet to reach a decision on what action they will take following the crash but his anger was still palpable during Monday's rest day. "Once you've got the facts then you can decide and evaluate whether there's an opportunity for the police to do something," he told reporters. "There are different options available, but [we'll wait] until we've got the facts and got the lawyers to say 'you could do this', 'Team Sky could do that', 'Juan as an individual might want to do that'."

The police reportedly interviewed witnesses to the crash on Monday with the public prosecutor for Aurillac, Jean-Pascal Violet, promising that all the details will be gathered before the Tour moves on through France. Meanwhile with 19 riders already out of this year's race, those remaining in the peloton will be hoping for an incident-free run on Tuesday's 10th stage, the largely flat 158 km route between Aurillac and Carmaux. ·