RABOBANK STATEMENT
A spokesman for the Rabobank team of Michael Rasmussen read out a statement in the early hours of Thursday morning, following the announcement that their Danish rider, who has lead the Tour de France since Sunday, July 15, lied about his whereabouts, seemingly to avoid out of competition tests.
"The reason for our decision is that the information came out that Michael Rasmussen was not in Mexico when he said he was. He was in Italy.
"He confirmed this information with Theo de Rooy, when he asked him. That is the reason that Theo de Rooy took the decision not to start Michael in tomorrow's stage of the Tour de France.
"It's a very complicated situation at this moment. The riders are talking with each other to decide whether or not they will start tomorrow. We have no further information as to whether or not they will start. They will not decide before tomorrow morning."
The spokesman went on to say that Rasmussen was not at the team hotel, but would not confirm where he was.
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Editor of Cycling Weekly magazine, Simon has been working at the title since 2001. He fell in love with cycling 1989 when watching the Tour de France on Channel 4, started racing in 1995 and in 2000 he spent one season racing in Belgium. During his time at CW (and Cycle Sport magazine) he has written product reviews, fitness features, pro interviews, race coverage and news. He has covered the Tour de France more times than he can remember along with two Olympic Games and many other international and UK domestic races. He became the 130-year-old magazine's 13th editor in 2015.
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