I was reading the news this morning when I saw that Rasmussen’s team, Rabobank, had kicked him out of the tour.
From the story:
“Michael Rasmussen has been sent home for violating (the team’s) internal rules,” Rabobank spokesman Jacob Bergsma told The Associated Press by phone. The team also suspended him.
Only once before in the 104-year-old Tour has the race leader been expelled. In 1978, Belgian rider Michel Pollentier, trying to evade doping controls after winning a stage at the Alpe d’Huez in the Alps, was caught with an intricate tube-and-container system that contained urine that was not his, said Tour historian Jean-Paul Brouchon.
In other news, Moreni faied a drug test :
Another Tour de France rider Italian Cristian Moreni failed a doping test and was led away by police at the end of Wednesday’s 16th stage.
Moreni tested positive for testosterone after stage 11 of the Tour last Thursday, said Didier Simon, of cycling’s world governing body, the UCI. He said it was for Cofidis to decide whether to pull its other riders from the Tour in the wake of Moreni’s failed test.