Raimondas Rumsas's son tests positive for growth hormone months after his brother's possibly doping-related death

The son of Raimondas Rumsas, who finished third in the 2002 Tour de France, has tested positive for growth hormone. Raimondas Rumsas Junior’s test results come after his younger brother Linas died in May. In response to his death, police launched a doping-related investigation into five people, including Raimondas Senior.

L’Équipe reports that 23-year-old Raimondas Junior was suspended following a September 4 out-of-competition test after testing positive for the growth hormone releasing peptide GHRP-6.

The test came on the same day that the Rumsas family home was raided by those investigating Linus’s death.

21-year-old Linas died suddenly in suspicious circumstances in Lucca last May. Illegal products were said to have been found in the family apartment, as well as that of the director of the Altopack team for which Linus rode.

Raimondas Junior rode for Team Soligo Amaru' Palazzago Sirio.

Shortly after Raimondas Senior finished on the podium in the 2002 Tour, his wife Edita was arrested by French police when the car she was driving was found to contain large quantities of substances including corticosteroids, testosterone, EPO, growth hormones and anabolic steroids.

She claimed that the drugs were for her mother-in-law. Her husband refused to travel back from Italy to help her and she remained in jail for several months.

In 2006, the couple were handed four-month suspended jail sentences for smuggling banned substances into France.

In May 2003, shortly after finishing sixth in the Giro d’Italia, Raimondas Senior was handed a one-year ban after testing positive for EPO.

Edita recently told Corriere Della Sera that the family would explain the drugs that were seized in September when they come to be questioned. "We too would like to know how Linas died, but no one answers us. His ashes are here at home. We will bring him to Lithuania only when we know the truth. No one can judge or judge us how we express our sorrow. "