Rotterdam, Netherlands - Dutch cyclist Thomas Dekker is out of this year's Tour de France, which starts Saturday, after testing positive for the blood-booster EPO, his Silence-Lotto team confirmed Wednesday.

Dekker provided the sample at a doping control in December 2007 but the EPO was only discovered using new methods introduced by the World Anti-Doping Agency
(WADA) in May.

Team boss Marc Sergeant revealed that the 24-year-old team-mate of two-time Tour de France runner-up Cadel Evans will now not go to the start of the Tour Saturday in Monaco and instead faces suspension from his team and a likely two-year ban. (dpa)