News Flash: Rasmussen pulled out of Tour, fired by Rabobank

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Rasmussen on the charge

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Stage 8 - Interview - Michael Rasmussen

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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.

Despite the controversy 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 victory.

The Skinny on the Chicken:

It should be noted that Michael Rasmussen (aka: the chicken) hasn't tested positive. the withdrawal is due to his contravening his team's (Rabobank) rules about disclosing wherabaouts. (see above) He had stated that he was in Mexico with his wife (who is mexican) and it turns out that he was in fact in Italy. There has been no connection yet to his onvolvment with Dr. Ferrari (no kidding) who ia also allegedly Alexandre Vinokourov's doctor (who has also been withdrawn from the tour due to a non-negative 'A' sample of his blood (it showed evidence of a homologous blood transfusion (blood that wasn't his))

Both Rasmussen and Vinokuorov are also some of the "men in black" that has been under suspicion by the UCI (cyclist union) for training in remote areas without his team kit on - to avoid being detected... it's all very John LeCarre...

Back to the story:

(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.

Rasmussen's credibility has sunk faster than he climbed up the Tour's hardest mountains.

The yellow jersey has been taking plenty of heat following revelations that he was formally warned by the UCI last month for inaccurate information about his whereabouts in the critical pre-Tour window to be available for out-of-competition tests.

A story published on VeloNews.com about allegations from a former mountain biker that Rasmussen tried to trick him into transporting banned doping products to Europe didn't help, either.

On Wednesday, the influential French sports daily L'Equipe ran the headline, "Rasmussen's Lies," above a story about his rest-day press conference when he tried to dispel rumors surrounding inconsistencies about his whereabouts during crucial pre-Tour training periods.

Rabobank officials revealed Tuesday they fined Rasmussen 10,000 euros for the warning.

ASO president Patrice Clerc turned up the heat Tuesday when he said, "Rasmussen shouldn't have been allowed to start the Tour."

The mood was tense at Wednesday's start in Orthez as French and some German riders staged a silent protest in light of the Vinokourov scandal that's rocked the Tour.

Rasmussen was loudly booed when he went to the pre-stage sign-in ceremony. The podium announcer even momentarily stopped his endless banter as the skinny Dane signed his name to the start list.

Despite the growing pressure, he rode Wednesday's stage to perfection, winning decisively and further tightening his grip on the yellow jersey. He's obviously not letting it affect his performance.

The intensity of the negative feelings toward Rasmussen remind many of the divisiveness provoked by Lance Armstrong's seven-year Tour run when the Texan's Tour dominance rubbed some the wrong way.

"Now I understand what Lance Armstrong went through for seven years. My respect for him is growing day by day," Rasmussen said. "The only good thing about the Vinokourov situation is that it proves that the system is working. To that, I can only add that I've had 14 negative tests on this Tour."