What do you think????

Tarmacadam

I seen M Rasmussen up Glencoe in Scotland June 13th and 14th....Honest...I did.!!

I think it's completely out of order that Rasmussen has been sent back home, picture this..

Average amateur football manager has the best player in the league on the bench in the cup final cos he said he wasn't out on the lash on friday but someone said they seen him so he's got em on the bench....eh no. He lied but that gets sorted in the dressing room.

le tour, yellow jersey....what do the sponsors have to say about this?

The news to those who don't follow the sport is making it all look like a big doping scandal and it's NOT, he's not been tested positive! This is the guys tour....his life and dream.

All that aside, there's definitely a deeper and more underlying reason for his dismissal. Period!

I think it's unfair that as soon as the yellow reached his shoulders all the info about his failed attendances came out, and the boy from UCI saying he should never have started???.He wouldn't be saying that if he wasn't in yellow and it's not rasmussens fault that that wasn't sorted pre tour.....he's been allowed to start with the information availiable to them pre tour!

The rules are the rules and he's received his punishment...
The punishments are wrong and the rules are WRONG not M Rasmussen.

He's played the system...and he was probably doping during the times in question, infact i'd bet he was,
i hope i don't get the "advocating the use of drugs" in response because i don't.

I'd be interested to hear what you guys feel about this.

hammerite

I agree that the timing is pretty poor when all this came out. He shouldn't have been allowed to ride in the first place. It does seem that this should have been dealt with ages ago and not allowed to get to this point.

If you look at precedents in other sports, Rio Ferdinand was banned after missing drugs tests, as was Christine Ohorug**** (not sure of her surname) the 400m runner. The rules are there to be stuck to. Rasmussens job is to be a cyclist, and part of his job now is time management. To be where he is going to be when he says he is (I can manage to do it for work, I'm sure he and most sports people have a bit more time on his hands to be organised than most of us ).

So whilst the circumstances, timing and everything else sucks, he has broken the rules and has to suffer the consequences.

Tarmacadam

This would lead all but the most naive to conclude, let's face it, when you're a professional these things are the things you're obviously going to prioritise and so I totally agree, you miss it you're out! (obviously within a reasonable, well thought out system whereby there's a better system of communication from board to athlete regarding dates and a system to cancel for whatever reasons they may decide are fit)

If the law book says he can start after missing two then i think he should start because this forces the powers that be to reconsider the rule book in the face of the publicity that it has now raised.

SteveR_100Milers

Depends whether you are in the camp that believe missing a drugs test without a plausible explanation is tantamount to cheating, or whether you have to be actually caught doping to be guilty.

Tarmacadam

seems it was fine before the tour, just not now

skut

in respons to the OP, it was the guy from ASO who said he shouldn't have started. This is because the guy(s) from the UCI hadn't warned ASO about the missed tests.

If you think rasmussen did dope, why are you upset that he's been kicked out?

Tarmacadam

Because there's no physical PROOF, one way or another.

OffTheBackAdam

He was withdrawn by his team, they'd asked him if he was infact in Italy when he'd claimed to be elsewhere. He confessed that this was true and thus was slung out.
It's not a case of someone saying they'd seen him in the Dollies and him then being ejected on that "evidence" alone.
A brave move by Rabobank and one that all teams should follow.
It's not like the runner, who'd missed 3 tests, not like Ferdinand, who's reasons for "forgetting" to undergo the control were highly suspect and should've copped a 2 year ban (But MUFC's lawyers & money saw to that, IMHO!)

SteveR_100Milers

except he has denied publicly he was in italy....so who is right?

cartesr

One way to find out where he was, check his passport it should have been stamped if he had been in Mexico, I would have thought he would have had it with him on the tour. Also wouldnt he need a visa to be in Mexico

esmit208

In all seriousness,if your boss asked you a point blank question that puts your integrity into question and you are not honest would you feel wronged if he sacked you? Mr. Derooij has no reason to believe anything else Mr. Rasmussen has to say. If he was caught being dishonest OK then he like you and I must face the consequences. It doesn't matter if he is cycling or working at the neighborhood 7-11. It's about INTEGRITY and nothing else. The additional question that is raised," If he was being dishonest about his whereabouts, what was he trying to hide?" No one is dumb enough to believe he was just playing a game of cat and mouse with the sanctioning bodies. The loopholes are closing, albeit slowly. Gone are the days when, ANYTHING GOES". There is too much at stake, i.e. lives, careers, and bags of money.

ut_och_cykla

HAving watched a lot of interviews on Danish telly yesterday my take on Ras/Rabobank is this:

Rabobank said this is getting too much - if you want continued sponsorship you need to ask Ras direct. Which they did. He admitted to lying about his whereabouts and to lying about OTHER THINGS too. Ras was sacked for lying about breaking team rules.

Cadel Evans was very 'curious' about Ras who he used to beat at MTB for several seasons suddenly getting so much better or being in the gruppetto in the Giro.

Goodness I'm tired of the politics and uncertainties....

ddraver

ut_och_cykla wrote:

Goodness I'm tired of the politics and uncertainties....

Exactly.....once again you don't know if who ever wins deserves to or not any more

off the back

To me it sounds like this. Ras has to give his whereabouts for 3months. he provides details of where he is. One day teh testers decide to call as he is meant to be at home. no one is there so they contact him and he says actually I am in Mexico -very sorry old chaps, meant to send an update, apologies and not likely to make mistake again.

All authorities take him at his word say no more....... that is until David Cassini recalls that he saw him twice in dolomites training when he was in Mexico.i.e Mexico was convient excuse to get the testers off his back. too late to head to mexico so he is now in teh clear. if he said mexico 3months previous they may have gone over -so best play silly buggers with the testers. Also if he said Dolomites they would be down in 24hrs and make his life troublesome.

If he was indeed in mexico as stated earlier should be no problem proving this. So if he cannot prove he was in mexico then he was clearly avaiding a test which is tantemount (apol for spelling) to doping. [As per greek sprinters in athens, and Michele de Bruin, whickey in the jar]. So my take is Rabo were happy to give him benefit of the doubt around a mistake in updating info. but once it becomes a lie it is not a mistake but deceit.... and there is only one recourse - your fired!!!

If it is as above we should take heart that athletes are being chased to the point where dopers are backing into a corner and makes it very difficult to dope. Sure u may get away with it once or twice a season. But all of asudden the risk of getting caught and fall out make you say -no it is just not worth it. Also remember the as we win the war on doping the need to dope is reduced. before u needed to dope to finish - common excuse. look at Bradley wiggins - two 4th places and a massive lone break and what would have been a tour finish!!

NorwegianBlue

This whole issue is a wakeup call, not just for cycling but for international sport as a whole. There is no single interpretation of the rules on out of competition testing, different sports and even different countries have different rules. For some nations missing two random tests would get you an immediate ban, for others you could get away with it. Presumably Danish rules permit this sort of behaviour.

Professional sports people have been banned in the past for missing tests, while others have got away with worse. It's about time that the sporting world as a whole got together and set down some blanket rules on doping and testing and made sure every governing body and every nation sticks to it.

There is only one reason for Ras to have skipped the tests, lets be fair he's a professional and dope tests are part of his day to day job. He would no more forget about dope tests than I would forget about the Data Protection Act. The problem is that as long as there are governing bodies, teams and sponsors who allow this sort of behaviour then doping will be a part of professional sport. Hats off to his team for taking a stand.

There are other sports where doping is an open secret. Cycling is taking a stand against an entrenched doping culture and is criticized for it by a large part of the media. On the other hand sports where doping is tolerated, while being denied officially (just like cycling not so long ago) are seen as "clean" by the sporting media who simply can't be bothered to scratch below the surface.

I've a feeling that this is going to get worse before it gets better.