First Landis - now Rasmussen

Hermy

Cycling News Flash, July 1, 2008

Edited by Ben Abrahams
Rasmussen handed two-year suspension for missed controls

By Gregor Brown
Michael Rasmussen during a recent court appearance
Photo ©: AFP (Click for larger image)

Nearly one year after he was forced to leave the Tour de France while wearing the race leader's maillot jaune, Danish cyclist Michael Rasmussen has been suspended for two years for missing out-of-competition doping controls prior to the race.

The Monaco cycling federation, with whom the 34 year-old former Rabobank rider carries a racing licence, released its decision today following a hearing on May 28, according to Rasmussen's manager Moreno Nicoletti. Rasmussen has the right of appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Rasmussen was withdrawn from the Tour de France after being fired by Rabobank for missing three anti-doping controls. He reportedly missed two controls carried out by the Danish Cycling Federation and one by the International Cycling Union (UCI).

The suspension is expected to be back-dated to start on the day he left the 2007 Tour de France, July 25.

Meanwhile, a verdict in the ongoing court case between Rasmussen and Rabobank, in which the Dane is claiming damages of 5.5 million euros from his former employer, is expected tomorrow in Utrecht, The Netherlands.

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(All rights reserved/Copyright Future Publishing (Overseas) Limited 2008)

Chips Lovell

What a surprise.

The verdict from the case against Rabobank is expected today, which should be interested, as Rabobank said the team might fold if they lose.

niceonetom

el tonto wrote: »

...Rabobank said the team might fold if they lose.

my contempt for the chicken deepens.

Hermy

Well how about that. Rasmussen gets his compo.


Rabobank ordered to compensate Danish cyclist Michael Rasmussen for wrongful dismissal
The Associated Press
Published: July 2, 2008


UTRECHT, Netherlands: A Dutch judge on Wednesday ordered the Rabobank cycling team to pay Michael Rasmussen €665,000 (US$1 million) compensation for wrongful dismissal after it fired him during last year's Tour de France for lying about his whereabouts to avoid doping tests.
The damages included a €400,000 (US$630,000) bonus Rasmussen would have been awarded by the team had he won the Tour de France.
The Danish cyclist was leading cycling's showcase event last year and was a near certainty to win it when he was fired for telling the International Cycling Union he was in Mexico when he was actually in Italy and France.
Rasmussen has admitted lying about his whereabouts to the Union, but insists his team knew where he was.
While Utrecht civil judge J. Sap said Rabobank was entitled to fire Rasmussen for lying to cycling authorities, he ruled that they should have given him two months' notice they would tear up his contract because the team "could have or should have" known weeks before firing him that he had lied about his whereabouts.
However, the judge refused to award Rasmussen any more compensation. The cyclist had demanded about €5.4 million (US$8.5 million) in damages.
"The judge says 'you brought it on yourself so you do not get extra damages,'" Rasmussen's Dutch lawyer Andre Brantjes explained.
Brantjes called the ruling a victory for Rasmussen, who was not present for Wednesday's hearing, and a blow for the credibility of the Rabobank team.
"The judge said that you (the Rabobank team) knew or should have known that he was not in Mexico. That seems to me like a serious finding," Brantjes told The Associated Press outside the court room.
The decision came just days before this year's Tour de France begins on Saturday — without Rasmussen.
Rabobank had no immediate comment on the ruling, which dealt exclusively with the issue of whether or not Rabobank had gone through the correct legal procedure when it fired Rasmussen last July.

blorg

From the Rabobank team. Is that a bad thing? Do we all think doping is an exclusively personal thing that the teams know nothing about? I'd suggest the teams are at least as complicit, in many cases more so. The ruling was based on the fact that the team "knew or should have known" where he was.

macinalli

blorg wrote: »

I'd suggest the teams are at least as complicit, in many cases more so.

+1 to that, although I'm not too impressed to see Rasmussen pocket $1 million for his troubles...

Hermy

Good point Blorg.
I suppose I'm just a bit uneasy about Ras gaining finacially from the whole sorry mess.

blorg

He basically got his Rabobank salary paid out given they fired him with no notice, anything extra was denied. I doubt he has gained much overall given the ban (at his age, his career is now over) and his legal costs. It's a sorry end for the guy, I wouldn't begrudge him getting his salary out of the team that probably knew well what he was doing and for all we know enouraged it if they were going to get a Tour win out of it. It's all too easy for teams to throw an individual rider out as a scapegoat if he gets caught, when the team is as much or more to blame.

Hermy

Sad but true.
+1