His team AG2R have yet to make a statement on the issue though I did have a quick look at their website and the anti-doping section and found the following remarks:
Prevention and fight against doping are at the heart of the priorities of the team AG2R La Mondiale. Leaders, riders and staff are constantly aware to craft every day for the observance of a doping-free sport.
Woops.
To be fair to Georges and the AG2R team, from what I read about Heptaminol it doesn't appear to be much of a performance enhancer. It's primary benefit is as a muscle relaxer that also aids people with low blood pressure. It would seem Georges has probably used it to deal with cramp, and knowing what cramp can feel like after a 100 kilometre ride never mind after a week with more than 1,000 kilometres in the saddle and couple of tough climbs, can you blame him?
It left me wondering if he had a headache and used a pain killer to deal with that would he test positive and have to withdraw? Indeed, it would seem that at first glance this helps in recovery in much the same way those gels you constantly see the riders gobbling up aids in energy.
And that's the fine and grey area we deal with when it comes to banned drugs that aren't see as quite so serious as blood manipulators such as EPO. Where do you draw the line? I suppose the simple answer is to draw it by what is and isn't on the banned substance list as of this moment and as such -- in this day and age -- ignorance is not an excuse and Georges should have known what he was taking before doing so.
It should be pointed out that a positive test for Heptaminol -- a specified substance that when last seen in the positive test of Dmitriy Fofonov back at the 2008 Tour de France that resulted in just a three month suspension -- did not require Georges to leave the tour until results of his 'B' sample had returned and that he left of his own accord.
Anyway ... the stage itself was pretty quiet ... a large break went clear and stayed clear and from it came the winner Ramunas Navardauskas -- a name not too friendly in the character limited world of Twitter! -- who attacked solo from a smaller group that had developed on the final climb to take the biggest win of his pro career. You might remember Navardauskas as the man who wore the Pink jersey early in last years Giro and his win for Garmin will be a big boost to a team whose GC hopes were dashed the day before when Ryder Hesjedal finished more than twenty minutes behind his rivals.
Speaking of Hesjedal, he is very much still in the race and his focus will have switched to trying to find his form and perhaps taking a run at a stage win.
"I want to honour the race, honour race number one, my team, the fans and all my supporters. I've had a lot of support as I've gone through the process of preparing for the Giro d'Italia as defending champion," he said before the start this morning.
"I feel good on the bike and there's no sign of any problems until I have to go full gas," he continued. "Then the body doesn't respond. If you have bad legs you feel bad all the time, not just in the hardest moments. That's telling me something is not right and my body is not quite functioning."
