Former HTC Highroad rider Alex Rasmussen appears to be preparing himself to receive a ban for three whereabouts violations, but is hoping that he could yet make the Danish team for the track world championships and thus give himself the chance of riding the Olympic Games.
His career faced a sudden uncertainty in mid-September when it emerged that he had three whereabouts violations. He was immediately taken off the Tour of Britain by his-then HTC Highroad squad and his contract ended.
He denies that his case has anything to do with doping, saying that the situation is due to being very disorganised about his whereabouts and nothing more. However the disciplinary commission overseeing his case will be those who make the judgement on that.
In the meantime, he’s keeping his fingers crossed that any suspension would be less than a year.
“If they could give me 10 months, I could go to the world championships on the track and thus help the national team qualify for the Olympics. It is what I am hoping for,” he told TV2Sport.dk. He previously said that most whereabouts sanctions start from the date of the last violation; in his case, he says that dates back to April.
“One year will mean that I can participate in the Giro, but if I only get two months less, it will change a lot for me.”
His case will be held tomorrow week (November 17th), with a decision to come at some point after that.
The Dane had been due to compete with Jonathan Vaughters’ Garmin-Cervélo squad in 2012 but serious doubt was cast on that after the news broke about Rasmussen’s case. However he has since said that he could potentially still find a place there, depending on the outcome of his hearing.
“I have talked with Jonathan Vaughters, who will decide in the end,” he told Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten last month. “He would like to have me on the team when I come back.
“Garmin is a team which cracks down on doping. But no one is talking about doping suspicions against me.” Rasmussen spoke to VeloNation about the issue on the day that it was announced that he was in hot water. He said then that the problem was two missed tests plus one late submission of his whereabouts information. “There was one when the testers came to Denmark but I was riding the six days of Berlin; and another when they came to Girona and I’d gone home to Denmark for my sister’s confirmation and I hadn’t updated my whereabouts,” he told VeloNation.
“The third offence was regarding ‘quarters’ as we call them – you have to have your whereabouts form for the following three month period completed five days prior to that quarter starting, I was late with my submission.”
Several of his fellow riders have said that Rasmussen’s issue is being very disorganised rather than having something to hide, but those investigating his case will ultimately make the call about what happened and what penalty should be handed out.
It had been thought that his legal team might fight the case on the basis of a possible delay in informing the rider. There were suggestions that the UCI might not have started disciplinary proceedings within the timeframe stipulated, but Rasmussen’s latest comments make no mention of that and his legal team may have decided not to try to fight the case on a technicality.