Cyclist Rasmussen fails to overturn ban
Michael Rasmussen will not compete in the Tour de France this year
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Thursday, 22, Jan 2009 10:20
Danish cyclist Michael Rasmussen has lost his appeal to overturn a two-year ban for deliberately avoiding taking drugs test.
The 34-year-old was leader of the Tour de France in July 2007 when he was shockingly sacked by his Rabobank team after he lied about his whereabouts when it came to occasions when he was required to take a drugs test. Rasmussen was banned for two years by the Monaco Cycling Federation.
Rasmussen later admitted that he had lied about his whereabouts to the International Cycling Federation (UCI), but insisted that his team knew that he was in Italy and France on the occasions he missed the drugs tests.
Rasmussen took legal action over Rabobank at a Dutch court and was awarded damages for wrongful dismissal, but he was unsuccessful when it came to trying to overturn his ban.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld the decision made by the Monaco Cycling Federation, saying that Rasmussen was guilty of trying to avoid taking drugs tests carried out by the Danish Anti-Doping Agency.
The CAS panel, consisting of three lawyers, declared that Rasmussen failed to disclose where he could be found in April 2007, was late to give information on where he could be found in June 2007 and lied about his whereabouts on June 21 – two weeks before the start of the Tour.