The Hindu : Sport / Cycling : Daniele Bennati wins 17th stage

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Friday, Jul 27, 2007
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Daniele Bennati wins 17th stage

Contador wears yellow jersey after Rasmussen’s sacking

— Photo: AFP

OUT YOU GO! The Tour de France pedalled off on Thursday without anyone wearing the Yellow Jersey after the leader Michael Rasmussen was booted out by his team Rabobank for lying about his whereabouts some time back.

CASTELSARRASIN: Italy’s Daniele Bennati, of the Lampre team, won the 17th stage of the Tour de France on Thursday, a 188.5km ride from Pau to here.

In the absence of ejected race leader Michael Rasmussen, who was sacked over doping suspicions by his Rabobank team on Thursday, Spaniard Alberto Contador pulled on the race’s yellow jersey.

Contador began the stage with a 1min 53sec lead on Australia’s Cadel Evans in the general classification, and the deficit stayed that way after a rare breakaway managed to go all the way to the finish line.

The break had started out as eight, but in the final 20km it was reduced to four as the pace of Germany’s Jens Voigt, who won his first stage in the Tour here in 2001, proved too much for some.

Britain’s David Millar began trailing with 16km to the finish, and together with Quick Step’s Matteo Tosatto he struggled to close the gap on the leading quartet.

Voigt’s drive for the finish line was being boosted by regular relays from Bennati, former Swiss champion Martin Elmiger and German Markus Fothen with Bennati proving the stronger at the finish.

Thrown out

Earlier, Denmark’s disgraced former Tour de France yellow jersey wearer Michael Rasmussen was sacked by his Rabobank team, the Dutch outfit’s manager Theo de Rooy told Danish news agency Ritzau.

Rasmussen was sensationally withdrawn from the Tour de France late on Wednesday by the team after it discovered he had lied to them about his whereabouts in June.

The 33-year-old rider, who had worn the yellow jersey for over a week and had looked as if he had sealed overall victory when winning Wednesday’s stage, had already had his presence in the race questioned after it was revealed he had missed four out of competition dope tests in the past 18 months.

“He lied to me, that is the chief reason (for sacking him),” said de Rooy, who revealed his sacking had been unanimously approved by all the team’s directors.

“There is no sign of him having been doped. It is simply a breach of trust,” he added.

De Rooy said that he had discovered on Wednesday that Rasmussen, a two-time King of the Mountains and four time stage winner in the Tour, had lied to him about where he had been training in June.

“I found out that he had not been in Mexico but in Italy instead,” added de Rooy, who had steadfastly supported Rasmussen till Wednesday.

Rasmussen, who had been with Rabobank since 2003, had said he was in Mexico (the birthplace of his wife) training when in fact he had been in Italy where he was recognised by Davide Cassani, a former rider turned television pundit.

Rasmussen had looked set to erase the memories of compatriot Bjarne Riis’s disgrace after the 1996 Tour de France winner confessed recently to having been doped at the time - he was subsequently stripped of the title.

Rasmussen hits out

Rasmussen has reacted angrily to being kicked out.In an interview with Danish newspaper B.T Rasmussen questioned his team manager Theo de Rooy’s decision to drop him.

“It’s the work of a desperate man who is at the end of his nerves,” Rasmussen told the paper’s website.

“My boss is mad,” he added, claiming that he hadn’t lied over his wherabouts for last month’s test.

“I wasn’t in Italy, no way. That’s the story of one man (former cyclist and now an Italian television presenter Davide Cassani) who thinks he saw me. But there’s not the slightest proof.”

On the verge of tears Rasmussen told the paper that the scandal had left him “broken and destroyed” and with nowhere left to turn. — Agencies

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