Tour de France under doping cloud again as leader Rasmussen is ejected
July 8, 2008
Drug scandal mars Tour de France once more; fired Rasmussen leaves the race and others sit out in protest.
The Tour de France has been fighting the spectre of doping rumors and scandals for years. Just when it seemed to be quieting down, Michael Rasmussen, the Dane who was leading the Tour de France in the yellow jersey, was fired by his team. Rasmussen won Wednesday’s stage and had looked set to win the race, which ends Sunday. He was taken out of the Tour de France by the Rabobank team after questions arose about his whereabouts when he was unavailable for doping exams earlier this year. Rasmussen missed random drug tests May 8 and June 28, and stories of his whereabouts at the time did not match up. According to the rules of the Tour de France, evading these tests too many times is equated with failing them. There are other rumors circulating around Rasmussen, whose dismissive attitude has not helped him win the confidence of the Tour de France authorities. One concerned an American mountain biker who had reportedly transported bags of blood for Rasmussen. Blood products are sometimes used illegally by cyclists for performance enhancement.
Cyclists from eight French and German teams sat out the start of stage 16. They said they delayed their start to protest the drug abuse in their sport.
Rasmussen’s thin alibis and arrogance have won him few defenders; his guilt seems almost a given among most observers. Still, since the alleged infractions for which the Danish cyclist was disqualified occurred several months ago, some Tour officials questioned why he was allowed to take the start on July 7 in London in the first place. Now the leader of the Tour who had appeared to be a shoo-in for victory is out of the race, dampening enthusiasm for the Tour de France around the world, and cheating the eventual winner of a good deal of his glory.
In a commercial backlash, sports giant Adidas said it might stop sponsoring bicycling teams, including T-Mobile. The car maker Audi might also withdraw its support for the sport, a German newspaper reported. A spokesman for Volkswagen’s Czech unit Skoda, one of the main sponsors of the Tour de France, said the company would evaluate its four years of sponsorship and then decide whether to continue. It’s becoming clear to more and more companies that cycling is no longer a sport that can be counted on to reflect well on businesses associated with it.
With Rasmussen out of the Tour de France, Spanish rider Alberto Contador of the Discovery Channel team would move into the race lead.
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