Just four days from a sure victory in Paris, Danish cyclist Michael Rasmussen has been kicked out of the Tour de France by his own Rabobank team.
The 33-year-old cyclist violated team rules for lying about his whereabouts before the Tour, causing him to miss drug tests on May 8 and June 28.
With Rasmussen gone, the new leaders in the Tour de France are Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel), Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto), and Levi Leipheimer (Discovery). It's unclear whether Contador would actually start Thursday in the yellow jersey, the brightness of which seems terribly faded now.
The Chicken
The wiry Danish cyclist known as “The Chicken” grabbed the yellow jersey in Stage 8 in the Alps and has held it ever since.
He battled throughout the Pyrenees to retain the yellow jersey, creating some of the most exciting mountain stages in recent years. Of course, all that's meaningless now, because his situation raises too many questions about why he lied about his whereabouts and what was he doing.
The expulsion from the team was ordered by the Dutch team's sponsor, the team spokesman told the AP. It stemmed from incorrect information Rasmussen supplied the team's sports director.
Italy, not Mexico
While Rasmussen said he was in Mexico during that period, a former rider, Davide Cassani, told Denmarke Radio that he saw Rasmussen in Italy in mid-June.
Team manager Theo DeRooy told CyclingNews that he would not pull the team from the race, leaving that decision up to each cyclist.
Rasmussen's teammate's must feel terribly betrayed, especially Michael Boogerd and Denis Menchov. The two have laid it all out for Rasmussen the past few days in the Pyrenees, sacrificing any chance they had for a good position or stage win for the team leader. Menchov, in fact, was actually considered among a short list of Tour favorites before the race started.
National team
Earlier in the Tour, news surfaced that Rasmussen had been kicked off the Danish national team because he had not reported his whereabouts during training to the UCI. That action meant he probably wouldn't compete in the 2008 Olympics.
Over the weekend, UCI president Patrick McQuaid said he'd rather someone besides Rasmussen win the Tour de France. The UCI had issued two written warnings to Rasmussen about not keeping them notified of his whereabouts; a third warning would have been considered the same as a positive drug test and made him eligible for a two-year suspension.
McQuaid wasn't the only one upset at Rasmussen. David Millar, who's back to cycling on the Saunier Duval team after serving his own two-year doping ban, said it was “unacceptable” for Rasmussen not to tell the UCI his location.
Reuters reports that police were raiding the hotel where the team stayed in Pau.
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