COPENHAGEN, Denmark – These days, Michael Rasmussen is too busy sorting out his professional imbroglio to spend time getting back on a bicycle.

And so the Tour de France will begin Saturday as it ended last year – without him.

Rasmussen is suing his former team, Rabobank, which ordered him to abandon the race while wearing the leader's yellow jersey amid doping suspicions.

The 34-year-old Danish cyclist has demanded $8.5 million in compensation for his firing, and a verdict in the Dutch city of Utrecht was expected Wednesday.

The team claimed he lied about his whereabouts before the 2007 Tour to avoid drug tests. Rasmussen says Rabobank knew exactly where he where was – in Italy and France. But that's not what Rasmussen said for months, when he insisted he missed random pre-Tour doping tests because he was in Mexico to sort out family matters.

Last month, Rasmussen left his home in northern Italy to appear in a Danish court, where he testified against two Danish hackers who accessed his private e-mail and tried to sell its content to a Danish newspaper, which declined to buy the e-mails that reportedly showed Rasmussen was not in Mexico.

Rasmussen admitted as much last November.

In a packed, news conference broadcast live on Danish television, Rasmussen acknowledged he never was in Mexico and had lied to the International Cycling Union.

Rasmussen denied doping and lying to Rabobank, saying the team fired him although they knew his whereabouts. He said he had contact with several team members while in Italy, and the Dutch team also paid for an airline ticket to southwestern France.

After his Tour exit, Rasmussen was banned from Denmark's national cycling team. He has refused most interview requests, but told Dutch daily De Telegraaf last December that he had considered suicide after being tossed from the Tour.

Besides the Dutch lawsuit, the cycling federation in Monaco, where Rasmussen has his license, is set to open disciplinary proceedings against him for violating anti-doping rules. No date has been set for that hearing.

Nicknamed Kyllingen (Danish for chicken), Rasmussen started as a mountain biker. A native of Toelloese, west of Copenhagen, Rasmussen switched to road cycling in 2002 when he joined Danish team CSC.

He switched to Rabobank the following year and rode in his first Tour in 2004. After failing to win any stages or the polka-dot jersey given to the top mountain rider, the climbing specialist agreed with his team that he could train alone and focus on the 2005 Tour.

That paid off. He won the polka-dot jersey the next two Tours and dominated the 2007 race before he abandoned the race, just four days before finish.