- Michael Rasmussen
-
Michael Rasmussen 
Personal information Full name Michael Rasmussen Nickname Kyllingen fra Tølløse
(The Chicken from Tølløse)Born 1 June 1974
Tølløse, DenmarkHeight 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in) Weight 59 kg (130 lb; 9.3 st) Team information Current team Christina Watches-Onfone Discipline Road (formerly MTB) Role Rider Rider type Climbing specialist Amateur team(s) –1992
1993–1994
2001Holbæk Cykle Ring
Wheeler (MTB)
CSC-Tiscali (stagiaire)Professional team(s) 1995–1996
1997–1998
1999
2000–2001
2001
2002
2003–2007
2009
2010
2011–Scott International (MTB)
Trek-Volkswagen (MTB)
Gary Fisher (MTB)
Haro-Lee (MTB)
Dungarees (MTB)
CSC-Tiscali
Rabobank
Tecos Guadalajara
Miche
Christina Watches-OnfoneMajor wins Grand Tours - Tour de France
- Mountains Classification
- Vuelta a España
- 1 individual stage
- World Mountain Bike XC Champion
- (1999)
- Giro dell'Emilia (2002)
Medal recordCompetitor for 
DenmarkMountain bike racing World Championships Gold 1999 Åre Cross Country Infobox last updated on
July 14, 2011Michael Rasmussen (born 1 June 1974) is a Danish professional road bicycle racer who rides for the Danish team Christina Watches-Onfone. In the 2007 Tour de France, Rasmussen, while in the yellow jersey, had his contract terminated by his team and was removed from the Tour. He served a two-year ban from July 2007 to July 2009, for lying about his whereabouts.
Specializing in climbing, Rasmussen has shown a propensity for attempting spectacular wins in mountain stages in which he breaks away from the peloton early and rides alone for most of the stage.
Michael Rasmussen is known for his care for detail when considering weight. With a staggering low weight (60 kg) he is usually one of the lightest riders in his class. He is known for peeling off unnecessary stickers from his bike, not wearing the Livestrong wristband which has become common among many Tour de France riders, due to the additional grams. He used to count each grain of rice before eating and had water with his breakfast cereal, not milk. He only carries one water bottle holder and his Colnago Extreme-C bike weighed 6.81 kg,[citation needed] only 10 g more than the minimum limit.[1]
His nickname in Danish is Kyllingen (English: The Chicken), originating from his period as a mountain biker when teammates were watching the Danish children's TV show, Bamses Billedbog, about a bear and a chicken. A large team mechanic was nicknamed Bear, and so Rasmussen was dubbed The Chicken.[2]
Contents
Biography
Rasmussen began his career as a mountain biker, and he won the Mountain Bike World Championships in 1999 before becoming a stagiaire with the professional cycling team CSC-Tiscali in 2001. There he secured a one-year contract for 2002, and following a string of good results in August and September, including his first professional win, he switched from CSC-Tiscali to Rabobank in 2003. After being sacked by Rabobank in the 2007 Tour de France, Rasmussen got a contract offer from Acqua & Sapone-Caffè Mokambo. The team's manager then decided that the move would be too expensive and thus Rasmussen was without contract.
Tour de France history
2004
His first Tour de France was in 2004, in which he failed to get any stage wins but was third in the mountain classification, which was won by Richard Virenque. Rasmussen then agreed with his team that he could train alone and focus on the Tour de France for 2005.
2005
At the 2005 Tour de France his training paid off when he took the polka dot jersey on stage eight. The next day he won stage nine after riding alone for three-quarters of the course; he had broken away after 3 km and stayed clear to the finish 168 km later. He led over the first category 1 climb, the Ballon d'Alsace. In the penultimate stage (Stage 20), an individual time trial, he lost his third place after a fall at 4 km, then two bike changes, two wheel changes and a crash into a ditch. After his first fall, he lost confidence and his ability to descend at speed, said by Rabobank's sports director Erik Breukink. Rasmussen finished 77th that day and dropped from 3rd to 7th on the GC. However he needed only to finish the final stage the next day to assure his status as King of the Mountains.
Rasmussen rode the next day partially alone, saying he needed to clear his mind after the day before.[3] After becoming king of the mountains, Rasmussen wore not only the polka dot jersey, but polka dot helmet, shorts, gloves, and socks. For the final stage, he rode a polka dot bike made by Ernesto Colnago, founder of the Colnago company.[4]
2006
In the 2006 Tour de France, he finished well overall but he was not team leader; that honour went to the Russian, Denis Menchov. Rasmussen won the King of the Mountains polka dot jersey for the second year and claimed stage 16 in the process. On Stage 16 he broke away after 4 km and took the Souvenir Henri Desgrange, awarded to the first across the summit of the highest mountain in each year's tour, on the Col du Galibier (2645 m), winning 5000 euros. He led over all the climbs and won stage 16 by more than a minute on Carlos Sastre of Team CSC. In Paris he claimed the final polka dot jersey of the tour while holding his newly born child, who was in a polka-dot shirt and cap.
2007
In the 2007 Tour de France he won the 8th stage from Le Grand-Bornand to Tignes, taking the Yellow jersey and polka dot jersey. On 25 July, he held a 3:10 lead on Alberto Contador, who was in second place for the yellow jersey. With four stages remaining, this made him favourite for the yellow jersey in Paris.[5] That evening however, he was withdrawn from the race and fired by his team Rabobank for "violating internal rules". Davide Cassani, an Italian retired professional rider, reported that he had seen Rasmussen in Italy in June 2007, a time when Rasmussen claimed to have been training in Mexico. The accusations were denied.[6]
Controversy
Rasmussen was the center of controversy while wearing the yellow jersey in the 2007 Tour de France, when it was announced that he had been suspended from the Danish national cycling team at UCI World Championships and Olympic Games following missed doping controls.[7] Rasmussen failed to report his whereabouts for a three-week training session in Mexico and was unavailable for testing during that period; for that he received a recorded warning from the UCI.[8] Counting these missed tests together, the Danish cycling union decided to ban Rasmussen. Rasmussen said: "I do admit that I've committed an administrative error. I was informed of this at the Danish championship two and a half weeks ago, so it's no news... It might be a surprise that it comes out right now."[9] The timing of the announcement led to speculation by Patrice Clerc, then chief of the Amaury Sport Organisation, which organises the Tour de France, that the UCI had leaked the news in the middle of the Tour to damage it, as part of a dispute between the two organisations over the running of the UCI ProTour.[10] This was rejected by the UCI president Pat McQuaid, who said the timing was the choice of the Danish cycling union.
Alleged doping in 2002
According to a multiply sourced VeloNews[11] article published on 20 July 2007, mountain bike racer Whitney Richards accused Rasmussen of trying to get him to transport a box, which Rasmussen had told Richards contained his favourite cycling shoes, to his training base in Italy in early 2002. The box turned out to contain packets of Hemopure, a bovine-hemoglobin-based blood substitute which is not currently approved for human use outside South Africa and did not become commercially available there until January 2006, and which might potentially have been used in a doping program. At the time there was no screening test for Hemopure; it is, however, banned by the WADA. Richards said he destroyed the Hemopure, at which Rasmussen is said to have grown angry and said to Richards "Have you any idea how much that shit cost?"[12]
A second journalist[13] confirmed that Richards had related the same story to him over two years ago, off the record, and claims that the incident is the one described in the epilogue of journalist David Walsh's recent book From Lance to Landis. Rasmussen had declined to comment on the story, saying only, "I cannot confirm any of that."
On 23 July 2007 he was pushed about his reluctance to deny the allegations in an interview on British TV channel ITV4 (also broadcast in a podcast). He denied any such incident and said he had not spoken to Richards for five years and was unsure what he had done to cause such allegations.[14]
Removal from the 2007 Tour
On 25 July 2007, the day Rasmussen won stage 16 and virtually ensured his overall win of the 2007 Tour de France, he was fired from Rabobank and removed from the race.[6] Previously, an Italian cycling commentator for RAI and former professional road bicycle racer, Davide Cassani, telling a story about Rasmussen's intense preparations for the Tour,[15] stated he had seen Rasmussen in the Italian Dolomites on 13 June 2007, cycling in the rain. According to the schedule Rasmussen submitted to the UCI, he should have been in Mexico at that time.[16] When confronted with this accusation, according to initial press reports, Rasmussen admitted the facts to his team leader, which resulted in Rasmussen's removal from the team and the Tour.[17] Rasmussen himself later first denied that he had admitted any such thing, stating that Rabobank manager Theo de Rooij "was a desperate man on the verge of a nervous breakdown.",[18][19] but later admitted that he admitted the facts.[15] Two days later on 27 July Theo de Rooij announced his resignation from his position as team manager.[20] Rasmussen's in-laws later confirmed to the Danish newspaper BT that he had visited them in Mexico, but that they did not know where exactly he had been on 13 and 14 June 2007.[21] Rabobank backed the decision to withdraw Rasmussen but reconfirmed its commitment as a sponsor in cycling,[22] at least at the local level.[23]
On 17 December 2007, the Dutch law firm BrantjesVeerman confirmed Rasmussen had hired it to fight his dismissal from Rabobank.[24]
On 1 July 2008 the Monaco Cycling Federation, which holds Rasmussen's racing license, announced that he was banned from the sport for two years from his exclusion from the Tour de France; the ban ended on 25 July 2009.[25] Rasmussen appealed the ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which upheld the ban on 22 January 2009.[26]
2009 return
Rasmussen's suspension expired on 25 July 2009, and he took part in the Designa Grand Prix in Kjellerup, Denmark two days later, finishing in second place. Later that season, he won the opening stage, a time trial, and was race leader for three days,[27] in the Mexico's Vuelta a Chihuahua, as a member of Team Tecos Trek. The following season, he signed for the Italian Continental ranked team, Miche Silver Cross.[28]
On July 30, 2010, Michael Rasmussen got a personal sponsor in Christina Design London.[29] On December 9, 2010, Rasmussen and Christina Design owner Christina Hembo presented their new team Christina Watches-Onfone. Hembo received a UCI Continental licence and announced the goal to become a UCI Pro Tour team by 2016.
Major results
- 1999
- 1st, Mountain Bike World Champion (cross-country)
- 2002
- 1st, Giro dell'Emilia
- 1st Stage 4, Tour of Burgos
- 2003
- 7th Overall, Vuelta a España
- 1st Stage 7
- 2004
- 1st Stage 6, Dauphiné Libéré
- 14th Overall, Tour de France
- 3rd King of Mountains Classification
Combativity Award, Stage 13, Stage 15
- 2005
- 7th Overall, Tour de France
- 1st
King of Mountains Classification - 1st, Stage 9
- Combativity Award, Stage 9
- 1st
- 2006
- 18th Overall, Tour de France
- 1st King of Mountains Classification
- 1st, Stage 16
- Combativity award, Stage 16
- 1st
- 2007
- Tour de France:
- 1st, Stage 8, Stage 16
- Combativity Award, Stage 8
- Maillot Jaune
Stage 8-16
- Withdrawn from the race after stage 16 while still leading general classification
- 2009
- 6th Overall, Vuelta Chihuahua Internacional
- 1st, Prologue Time Trial
- Leader
Prologue,Stage 1-2
- 2011
- 8th Overall, GP Herning
- 8th Overall, Himmerland Rundt
- 4th Overall, Tour of Norway
- 2nd Overall, Tour de Serbie
- 1st, Stage 3, Tour de Serbie
- 4th Overall, Brixia Tour
Grand Tours overall classification results timeline
Grand Tour 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 
Giro45 – – WD WD 48 Tour– – 14 7 17 WD 
Vuelta- 7 - - WD - WD = Withdrew
See also
References
- ^ UCI Cycling Regulations[dead link] p. 61
- ^ Anthony Tan, To Rule the Roost, CyclingNews.com, 10 July 2004
- ^ Shane Stokes, Magnificent seven for Armstrong, CyclingNews.com, 25 July 2005
- ^ John Stevenson, Michael Rasmussen's Colnago Extreme C Special Pois, CyclingNews.com, 26 July 2005
- ^ "SI.com - Spectacular kid - Jul 23, 2007". CNN. 2007-07-23. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/austin_murphy/07/23/vinkourov.subplot/. Retrieved 2010-05-12.
- ^ a b Rasmussen out of Tour de France
- ^ Weislo, Laura (2007-07-20). "Tour leader dumped from national team". Cyclingnews.com. http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/jul07/jul20news2. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
- ^ "Tour leader Rasmussen in the red as fresh doping allegations made". Yahoo! Eurosport. 2007-07-21. Archived from the original on 2007-08-10. http://web.archive.org/web/20070810002854/http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/21072007/3/tour-leader-rasmussen-red-fresh-doping-allegations-made.html. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
- ^ "Tour leader Rasmussen admits error in drug-testing rules after expulsion from Danish team". International Herald Tribune. 2007-07-20. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/20/sports/EU-SPT-CYC-Tour-de-France-Rasmussen.php. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
- ^ Stokes, Shane (2007-07-21). "McQuaid rejects ASO's claim that UCI is trying to damage Tour de France". Cyclingnews.com. http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=features/2007/McQuaid_rejects_ASO_claims07. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
- ^ Pelkey, Charles (2007-07-20). "Ex-cyclist levels doping charges at Rasmussen". VeloNews.com. http://velonews.competitor.com/2007/07/news/ex-cyclist-levels-doping-charges-at-rasmussen_12851. Retrieved 2007-07-20.
- ^ Walsh, David (2007-07-22). "Rasmussen rides into new storm". The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/cycling/article2116022.ece. Retrieved 2007-07-22.
- ^ Lindsay, Joe (2007-07-21). "Boulder Report: Fresh Doping Allegations Hit Rasmussen". Bicycling.com. http://velonews.com/article/12851. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
- ^ Boulting, Ned (2007-07-23). "ITV Tour de France Podcast - Stage 14". ITV Tour de France Podcast. http://itv-ht.rd.llnw.net/event1/podcast.xml. Retrieved 2007-07-24.
- ^ a b "Zembla TV program, episode "Tijdbom Rasmussen"". 2008-02-03. http://player.omroep.nl/?aflID=6437061&md5=d366fc33fd29664c52d1bee0feb9b607.
- ^ TV 2 Tour de France - Michael Rasmussen ude af Touren.
- ^ "Team Rabobank withdraws and fires Rasmussen" (Press release). Rabobank. 25 July 2007. http://www.rabobank.nl/particulieren/sponsoring/wielrennen/tour_2007_in_english/tour_news/news/Rasmussen_out. Retrieved 2007-07-26.[dead link]
- ^ Johansen, Thomas Møller (2007-07-26). "Rasmussen til B.T.: Min chef er gal" (in Danish). www.bt.dk. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070930184925/http://www.bt.dk/article/20070726/SPORT03/707260314/1039. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
- ^ Staehelin, Jacob. Michael Rasmussen: Jeg er grædefærdig, B.T. Tour section, p. 3, 26 July 2007.
- ^ Jensen, Finn T. (2007-07-27). "Theo de Rooij kaster håndklædet" (in Danish). tour.tv2.dk. http://tour2008.tv2.dk/article.php/id-7722878.html. Retrieved 2007-07-27.
- ^ "Rasmussen was wel in Mexico" (in Dutch). NOS. 2007-07-27. http://www.nos.nl/nosstudiosport/artikelen/2007/7/27/27071050rasmussenwaswelinmexico.html. Retrieved 2007-07-27.
- ^ "Rabobank blijft actief in wielersport" (in Dutch). NOS. 2007-07-26. http://www.nos.nl/nosstudiosport/artikelen/2007/7/26/26070940rabobankblijftactiefinwielersport.html. Retrieved 2007-07-27.
- ^ "Sponsors Reconsidering After Doping Scandals". New York Times. 2007-07-27. http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/sports/sports-cycling-tour-sponsors.html. Retrieved 2007-07-27.[dead link]
- ^ "Wielrenner Rasmussen klaagt Rabobank aan" (in Dutch). nrc.nl (NRC Handelsblad). 2007-12-17. http://www.nrc.nl/media/article1857845.ece/Wielrenner_Rasmussen_klaagt_Rabobank_aan. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
- ^ "Rasmussen receives two-year ban". BBC Sport (BBC Online). 2008-07-01. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/7484492.stm. Retrieved 2008-07-02.
- ^ Cyclist Michael Rasmussen Appeal Denied SI.com, 22 January 2009
- ^ "La Vuelta A Chihuahua: Stages, Route Maps & Results". cyclingnews.com. 2009-10-10. http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/la-vuelta-a-chihuahua-2-1. Retrieved 2010-03-27.
- ^ Rasmussen signs with Miche-Silver Cross
- ^ http://www.mynewsdesk.com/dk/view/pressrelease/kyllingen-koerer-for-christina-racing-446057
External links
- Official homepage
- Danish Cycling Union profile
- Michael Rasmussen profile
- Fan and support page where over 55.000 people signed their support
- Michael Rasmussen profile at Cycling Archives
- Official Tour de France results for Michael Rasmussen
Categories:- 1974 births
- Cyclists at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Cyclists at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Danish cyclists
- Doping cases in cycling
- Danish Tour de France stage winners
- Living people
- Cross-country mountain bikers
- Olympic cyclists of Denmark
- Vuelta a España stage winners
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