Michael Rasmussen

Michael Rasmussen
To person
Nickname	Chicken
Date of birth	1st June 1974 (age 46)
nation	Denmark
discipline	Road, MTB
Driver type	Mountain riders
End of career	2013
Team (s)
1993–1994 ; 1995–1996 ; 1997–1998 ; 1999 ; 2000–2001 ; 2001 ; 2001 ; 2002 ; 2003–2007 ; 2009 ; 2010 ; 2010–2013	Wheeler (MTB) ; Scott International (MTB) ; Trek-Volkswagen (MTB) ; Gary Fisher (MTB) ; Haro-Lee (MTB) ; Volksbank-Schwinn ; CSC-Tiscali ( Stagiaire ) ; CSC-Tiscali ; Rabobank ; Tecos Guadalajara ; Miche ; Christina Watches-Onfone
Most important successes
	Grands Tours Mountain classification Tour de France 2005 , 2006 World championships World Champion - Cross Country 1999
	Last updated: November 3, 2018

Rasmussen near Bad Herrenalb on the 8th stage of the Tour de France 2005

Michael Rasmussen (born June 1, 1974 in Tølløse, today part of Holbæk , Denmark ) is a former Danish professional cyclist .

Career

First successes

Rasmussen began his sporting career on the mountain bike and became Danish Junior Champion in 1992, Danish Champion in 1996 and World Champion in Cross Country in 1999 . A short time later he switched to road cycling and had his first season with the Volksbank team . From 2001 he drove with the CSC-Tiscali team and moved to the Rabobank team in 2003 . In 2003 and 2004 he achieved his first successes by winning a difficult mountain stage at the Vuelta a España and by winning a stage and winning the mountain classification at the Dauphiné Libéré .

Rasmussen with abrasions on the 20th stage of the Tour de France 2005

Michael Rasmussen's breakthrough came in the 2005 Tour de France , where he demonstrated his skills as a climbing specialist and, for the first time, as a classification rider. With a superior victory on the ninth stage of the Tour de France 2005, Rasmussen was six minutes ahead of the favorite Lance Armstrong and moved up to 38 seconds on the American in the overall standings. In the time trial in the penultimate stage , Rasmussen fell twice, crossed the finish line almost eight minutes after the day's winner Lance Armstrong and had to give up all hopes for a place among the top three in the overall standings. Nevertheless, Rasmussen reached Paris as seventh in the overall standings and as the winner of the mountain standings with the spotted jersey . His position in the overall ranking was subsequently improved to sixth in 2012 after Jan Ullrich was convicted of doping .

At the Tour de France 2006 , Rasmussen collected points for the mountain classification on the first mountain stages and worked a lot for his captain Denis Menschow . This time, Rasmussen's focus was not on the overall standings, but on the dotted jersey . His big deficit on the favorites put him in the ideal position to attack early on on a stage. On the 16th stage, which began right after the start with the almost 40-kilometer climb to the Col du Galibier , Rasmussen attacked after a few kilometers together with Tadej Valjavec and Sandy Casar . On the second ascent of the day, Rasmussen pulled away from his companions, was able to save a lead of 1:41 minutes at the finish and thus celebrate his second stage victory after 2005 on the tour and take over the dotted jersey.

Tour de France 2007 and doping ban

In the 2007 Tour de France , Rasmussen won the eighth stage , a mountain stage. After that he was in the lead in the overall standings and wore the yellow jersey . Up to the 16th stage , which he also won, he also led in the mountain classification.

During the 2007 tour it became known that Rasmussen had been suspended by the Danish Cycling Federation for the national team at the 2007 road cycling world championships and the 2008 Olympic Games . Contrary to his obligations as a professional racing cyclist, he had concealed his training locations from the doping control officers several times. He himself admitted at a press conference after the 12th stage that he had received two warnings from the UCI and one from the Danish cycling association DCU. According to the anti-doping rules, a driver is sentenced to a two-year ban for doping offenses if he missed three doping tests within 18 months. Tour director Christian Prudhomme did not see sufficient reasons to justify sanctions during the tour. On the evening of July 20, it became known that Rasmussen had received a total of four warnings in the last year and a half, two from the UCI and two from the Danish Cycling Federation.

In addition, on July 20, 2007, the American mountain biker Whitney Richards announced that in March 2002 he was to transport a box of cycling shoes to Italy for Rasmussen. However, he found 14 infusion bags with the label "Biopure" in them and then consulted the doctor Taro Smith, who suspected that it was Hemopure . In the course of the announcement of the events, Taro Smith confirmed this information. He then emptied the infusion bags. Rasmussen got angry when he found out and has not spoken to him since. So far, Rasmussen has only said that he could not confirm the allegations, but that he knew Richards by name.

During the 16th stage of the 2007 tour, Rasmussen was hostile to spectators and finally, on July 25, 2007, his team Rabobank was taken out of the tour as overall leader and removed from the team with immediate effect. This was justified by a Rabobank spokesman with the disregard of the team rules . The team sponsor, the Dutch bank Rabobank , said in a press release that he was shocked and very disappointed by the fact that Rasmussen had lied about his whereabouts. The basis was the testimony of the Italian ex-professional and TV journalist Davide Cassani , who said on Italian television that he had seen Rasmussen train in Trentino in the spring of that year , whereas he had told the team that he was in Mexico at the time.

In September 2007 it became known that the drug Dynepo could be detected in several of his urine samples from the time of the Tour de France 2007 by the doping laboratory in Châtenay-Malabry . The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) had not yet authorized the detection method for Dynepo. Therefore, the positive result could not be used legally.

In July 2008 the Monegasque Cycling Association imposed a two-year ban on Rasmussen, which came into force retrospectively from July 25, 2007.

Rasmussen sued against his dismissal by the Rabobank team and achieved a partial success. In the summer of 2008, a court ruled that the dismissal was legal, but objected to the fact that it took place without notice. He was awarded a compensation of 700,000 euros, significantly less than the 5.5 million he was demanding. In an appeal hearing in June 2013 it was decided that Rasmussen had wrongly received € 665,000 of the € 700,000 and had to repay it. In September 2013, Rasmussen appealed the judgment.

Comeback, confession of doping and end of career

After his doping ban had expired, Rasmussen returned to cycling for the small Mexican team Tecos de la Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara in October 2009 . In his first race, the Vuelta a Chihuahua in Mexico, he won the prologue . Furthermore, Rasmussen declared on October 5, 2009 that he wanted to apply for Mexican citizenship and to start for Mexico at the 2010 World Cup .

In the 2010 season Rasmussen started for the Miche team , but could not achieve any great success.

On December 9, 2010, Rasmussen and Christina Hembo, a watch dealer from London, announced the founding of the new Continental Team Christina Watches-Onfone at a press conference . Rasmussen should act as captain and the team should be built around him. At Christina Watches-Onfone, Rasmussen achieved victories in a few smaller races, including a. at the Serbia Tour or the Ringerike Grand Prix .

In June 2010, the Vienna public prosecutor announced that criminal proceedings against Rasmussen would be discontinued. The prosecution did not question that Rasmussen, together with Bernhard Kohl and cross-country skier Christian Hoffmann, had participated in the purchase of a blood centrifuge by Kohl's manager Stefan Matschiner , but after the Austrian anti-doping law came into force in August 2008, the three athletes “did not make any contribution “To prove blood doping .

On January 31, 2013, Rasmussen made an extensive doping confession in which he made it clear that he had taken banned performance-enhancing substances almost continuously from 1998 to 2010, and ended his career.