CASTRES, France – Like a cyclist who can't shake his pursuers, the Tour de France continues to be dogged by the cloud of doping.
Race leader Michael Rasmussen became the latest rider to face scrutiny yesterday when he had to answer why he had been kicked off the Danish national team for failing to report his whereabouts for drug-testing purposes.
“I do admit that I've committed an administrative error,” Rasmussen said. Asked how much the expulsion mattered to him, the 33-year-old held a thumb and forefinger narrowly apart and said: “How about this much?”
The episode took the spotlight away from the day's stage, won by Tom Boonen of Belgium in a field sprint.
Rasmussen said he had been tested out of competition in June, and the results were negative.
“I have no positive doping tests, and that's it,” he said. “This is blown out of proportion. . . . It's a matter of misinformation.”
Meanwhile, a former Colorado-based amateur mountain-bike racer alleged in an exclusive VeloNews report that Rasmussen attempted to trick him into carrying illegal doping products to Europe in 2002.
Whitney Richards, 31, told VeloNews, a U.S. cycling monthly, that in March 2002, Rasmussen asked him to deliver a box to him containing cycling shoes. But the shoebox, according to Richards, actually contained bags of an American-made human blood substitute. None of the information Richards provided VeloNews involves allegations of current doping.
Asked by VeloNews about the charges at yesterday's post-race press conference, Rasmussen said he was familiar with Richards' name but declined to comment further.
International rules require cyclists to keep officials informed of their whereabouts for possible unannounced doping checks. They can send word by e-mail, text message, or mail.
Cycling officials said yesterday that Rasmussen missed two drug tests by Denmark's anti-doping agency in May and June, and he didn't respond to two warnings from the International Cycling Union since April 2006.
Three no-shows to either the UCI or the Danish agency would be considered equivalent to a positive test and lead to a ban.
Rasmussen said he had sent a letter from Italy, where he resides. He said he didn't have a computer in Mexico, where he was when Danish anti-doping officials came knocking at his home.
“You can't blame the postal system,” said Jesper Worre, director of the Danish cycling union. Not having a computer is “his problem. You can't use that as an excuse.”
The suspicions will be swirling today as Rasmussen, a self-described “pure climber,” attempts to hold off challengers for the yellow jersey in a 33.6-mile time trial, which decidedly is not his forte.
Rasmussen finished safely in the trailing pack yesterday along with his biggest rivals. He is 2:35 ahead of second-place Alejandro Valverde and 2:39 ahead of Iban Mayo, another Spaniard, in third.
Rasmussen's other challengers include Cadel Evans of Australia, who is fourth, 2:41 back; Andreas Kloden of Germany, 3:50 back; and American Levi Leipheimer, 3:53 behind and in eighth overall.
