Michel Hessmann's adverse dope test result last year rocked Jumbo Visma, now Visma-Lease a Bike, but the first signs have emerged that the German authorities are treating it is a less serious case.
The 22-year-old still faces a possible ban, but he will not face criminal charges from the German authorities as they have found no evidence he intended to commit a criminal offence.
Under German law, an athlete who dopes can be not only be banned from competing by the sporting authorities but they can also face criminal charges, as several riders did in the German-Austrian Operation Aderlass.
Jumbo Visma last August said it had "been informed of a positive anti-doping test result" for Hessmann arising from an out-of-competition control on 14 June in Germany. It added at the time the "detected product" was "a diuretic medicine".
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Recently, team boss Richard Plugge suggested, to the Radio Cycling podcast, that Hessmann may have returned the test result due to contamination, though insisted all the team-issue supplements were tested.
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Plugge said the test result "looks like something like pollution", though he did not explain why he had come to that conclusion.
However, after carrying out an investigation for months, including searches at Hessmann's home and seizing devices and other items for testing, the Freiburg Public Prosecutor's Office have said there was no evidence, or insufficient evidence, of intent on the rider's part to commit a criminal offence.
That outcome, relating to the dismissal of any possible criminal process, was first reported by Dutch site Wielerflits.
However, the 'sporting' part of the inquiry is not over and Hessmann could still face a lengthy ban from cycling unless he can prove he did not ingest the substance intentionally.
Hessmann was 3rd at Tour de l'Avenir two years ago, denying Ireland's Archie Ryan a place on the podium, and helped Primož Roglič to Giro d'Italia victory last year, just before the positive test.
However, while he was withdrawn from racing by Jumbo Visma last summer, he remains a rider on their team, though he has not taken part in any public activities with the team of late. He has a contract to run to the end of this year, which is still active pending the outcome of the 'sporting' case against him.
