Danish rider will not be signing for Riis' team in time for the Vuelta, if at all
Rumours that Michael Rasmussen might be joining the Saxo Bank team in time to ride this month’s Vuelta a España have been denied by team manager Bjarne Riis. “It will not happen,” the 1996 Tour de France winner told Ekstra Bladet. The Danish climber made the transition from mountainbiking to road cycling in 2001 with Riis’ team, then known as CSC-Tiscali. He rode with the team through 2002, before joining Rabobank the following year.
Although Rasmussen reportedly has a personal sponsor who would pay his salary, his return to Riis’ team now looks out of the question for the remainder of 2010 at least.
Riis has in the past commented that Rasmussen deserves to return to the sport, “but it doesn’t mean he should be on my cycling team,” he said.
“I have just said that it was something I would look at and there was probably nothing odious about it,” he continued. “That does not mean that he should ride the Vuelta a España and everything for us, or that he absolutely must ride for us.”
He also pointed out that he has not spoken to Rasmussen, or his agent.
Rasmussen was infamously sacked by the Rabobank team while leading the Tour de France in 2007 after it was revealed that he had deliberately provided inaccurate whereabouts information to anti-doping authorities. He was subsequently banned for two years by his adopted Monaco Cycling Federation, and has found himself unable to rejoin the top echelons of the peloton since his return.
In late 2009 he returned to racing in Mexico, finishing sixth overall in the Vuelta a Chihuahua, before signing with the Italian Miche team at the start of this year. The contract with Miche was ended in mid-April was ended though, after he was sidelined with a bout of mononucleosis. He has long expressed an interest in riding for Riis’ team but this now looks highly unlikely, and anyway will have to wait at least until next year.