Bjarne Riis may be closer and closer to signing fellow Dane Michael Rasmussen to the Saxo Bank team, with the former Tour de France King of the Mountains apparently no longer being persona non grata in the Tour de France.
Riis was asked this week about whether or not Rasmussen is likely to be part of his team in 2011. There’s considerable uncertainty as to whether or not Alberto Contador will be able to race next season but, either way, Rasmussen is seen by some as being a potentially important acquisition.
“I don’t yet know what will happen, we will see shortly. I have different things to think about,” Riis answered, when asked by Politiken if the climber would be signed. “I have in particular to think about how a decision to admit Michael Rasmussen to my team will be received.”
In speaking about that reception, Riis was most likely referring to several different areas including the media, the public, the UCI and also ASO, the organisers of the Tour de France.
Rasmussen generated plenty of negative headlines for ASO in 2007 when he was ejected from the race while wearing the yellow jersey of race leadership. He won the final mountain stage of the race and looked almost certain to beat Alberto Contador and win the race.
However he had lied about his whereabouts before the race, saying he was in Mexico when he was actually training in Italy, and thus was not available for out of competition testing. He ultimately served a ban and returned to racing towards the end of last season.
Since then he has raced with the Miche team, contracted mononucleosis, recovered from the illness, signed with personal sponsor Christina Hembo, and approached Riis about a place on his team for 2011.
If ASO’s response is one of the biggest concerns, it appears that Riis’ fears may be unfounded. Alexandre Vinokourov was allowed back into the race this year; he too was ejected from the 2007 Tour after an illegal blood transfusion, but competed this July and won a stage. In addition, ASO said this week that it had no objection to him competing in the event again.
“There are no formal things that prevent Michael Rasmussen from participating in the Tour de France,” said ASO spokesman Mathieu Desplats to Ekstra Bladet. “He has served his sentence and if there is a perception that he is not welcome, you must ask the UCI about the cause.”
The UCI has always maintained that it doesn’t have Rasmussen on a black list, but this was contradicted by Professor Verner Moller at the New Pathways for Pro Cycling conference.
Deserving of a fresh start?
The question of whether or not the rider should be allowed to return to the Tour is a difficult one to answer. On one hand, he undoubtedly damaged the 2007 Tour, both because of the events that took place during it and also reports afterwards that his blood had shown signs of an EPO-like product. Bernhard Kohl also said that after Rasmussen was suspended, he continued to extract blood in Vienna.
The counter argument is that he has undoubtedly suffered a lot, has been through tough times and has completed the sanction that he was handed down by the UCI. He’s undoubtedly paid a higher price than others such as Vinokorouv and Ivan Basso.
Riis tends towards the latter viewpoint. “He has changed, I am in no doubt [about that],” Riis told Politiken. “Michael has paid for his lies and therefore he deserves a second chance.
“He is not finished despite being 36 years old, and he has always lived serious as regards nutrition and training.”
Does he feel that he owes him anything? “No, I do not,” he answers. “I just think that he needs a second chance. Also, because he is still passionate about it and still has it in himself.
“He has become more adult. I think he has a more moderate attitude about what happened in 2007. And that suits him.”
At this point in time, it appears that Saxo Bank is indeed inching closer to making an announcement that he will be brought on board. If and when that happens, it’s likely that the debates will intensify. Is it better to give the place to him and allow him a second chance, or to hand it to a young rider who has never been involved in scandal? There will be plenty of opinions on both sides.