RE: GCCMail: Rasmussen pulled out of Tour
Ryan Saylor 25 Jul 2007 20:17 EDT
I think it's good. Since when is getting rid of cheaters bad??
The riders who think it's a bad thing are the ones who are also doping and
feel guilty about moving up a notch because another doper got busted.
If I were a clean racer in the Tour and was going to move up a notch because
they caught a cheater, I'd be happy as anything.
ryan.
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This is not a joke as far as I can tell, and is a sad state of affairs for
professional cycling.
http://www.velonews.com/tour2007/details/articles/12944.0.html
News Flash: Rasmussen pulled out of Tour, fired by Rabobank
Filed: July 25, 2007
Yellow jersey wearer Michael Rasmussen was sensationally kicked out of
the Tour de France by his own Rabobank team, the Dutch outfit revealed on
Wednesday.
photo: Agence France Presse - 2007
Despite the contoversy stirred up by Rasmussen missing four pre-tour
doping tests, the Dane had seemingly weathered the storm and had won
Wednesday's stage to all but seal overall victroy.
However team officials learned Wednesday that Rasmussen lied to them
over where and what he was up to during the month of June, when he was in
fact in Italy and not in Mexico as he had told them.
"He broke team rules," said a Rabobank spokesman, who said that the Dane
has also been fired from the team.
"It is not even sure if the team will carry on in the race," he added.
Tour de France race director Christian Prudhomme - who at one point had
phoned UCI president Pat McQuaid to berate him over not informing
organizers over Rasmussen's missed tests - said that there was not much
more he and his co-directors of the race could have done.
"We did all we could do to get rid of him," Prudhomme told AFP.
"One cannot mock the Tour de France impunitively like those riders," he
added, referring to Rasmussen, Cristian Moreni - who also exited on
Wednesday after failing a drugs test - and Alexandre Vinokourov who was
thrown out on Tuesday.
Rasmussen had won two stages during the Tour, though, his presence at
the race was questioned by several officials and from the race organizers
as well. Mocking fans along the racecourse and a chorus of boos at the
finish line indicate his lack of popularity with fans as well.
His departure leaves young Spaniard Alberto Contador in the lead with
Australian Cadel Evans in second and American Levi Leipheimer in third.
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