DENMARK: CYCLING: Michael Rasmussen, fired from his team while leading the Tour de France, admits he lied about training whereabouts

Dane Michael Rasmussen, who was thrown out of the Tour de France this year while leading the race, admitted on Thursday (November 8) that he had lied about his training whereabouts before the Tour, but said he never used drugs. Rasmussen was sacked by his team, Rabobank, in July four days before the Tour's end, after they said he lied about where he had been training. At the time, Rasmussen insisted he had been training in Mexico, while the Dutch team said he had been in Italy. Rasmussen told a news conference in Copenhagen on Thursday: "I've never been in Mexico..and Rabobank, they had knowledge about that." Referring to his assurances to a sports correspondent, Rasmussen said that he had been speaking only about doping. "When Lars from 'Ekstra Bladet' asked me if he could trust me during the tour, I told him "yes, you could trust me" and I answered that question in a doping-related sense. Yes, I have not been trustworthy regarding my whereabouts information, that's true. And I believe I explained an excuse for that today." Rasmussen, flanked by a lawyer who several times answered questions directed to the rider, did not explain why he lied, saying that it was a private matter relating to his personal life. The cyclist said that he had placed the matters relating to his dismissal by Rabobank in the hands of his lawyer. "I have a claim against Rabobank because I have been unrightfully fired by them, maybe my lawyer is the better person to answer that," he said. Rasmussen's news conference had been called before Rabobank's own account of the Tour de France and his dismissal, due to be explained in a news conference on November 12. The 33-year-old rejected allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs, showing a slide of what he said were his blood test results and he said that he felt the blood test results would be an inducement for a new team to hire him as a professional cyclist. "To my best knowledge I am the first rider from the Pro Tour that is publicising his blood values and I believe that is a fairly strong argument to sign a contract with me looking at the way things are in professional cycling." In September, the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) said Rasmussen tested non-negative for the banned substance erythropoietin (EPO) during this year's Tour de France. The result of the analysis of Rasmussen's urine sample cannot be declared positive for legal reasons, AFLD said.

ITN Source | November 9, 2007

Tags:. .reasons. .strong. .french. .due. .fairly