Meet the new boss of cycling, Zdeněk Bakala. Whether he’s the same as the old boss depends but the UCI has signed a memorandum of understanding with Bakala, the Czech billionaire to invest up to €20 million from Bakala alone being cited.
Earlier this week we had news of the UCI launching a consultation exercise, now we have news that a deal is close to being signed, with Pat McQuaid saying “we look forward to making a formal announcement on this as soon as possible.”
Regular readers will know I’ve been following the case of Danish rider Alex Rasmussen closely since last September when news emerged that he’d committed three anti-doping “whereabouts” faults. Normally this constitutes an anti-doping violation under the rules, meaning a ban was likely. He got fired by his team, HTC-Columbia but when the case was heard by the Danmarks Cykle Union he was cleared. Only the case went to appeal and yesterday he lost.
The case is bigger than one rider as it covers the systemic issue of out-of-competition testing, the logging of an athlete’s “whereabouts” and also exposes discrepancies in the UCI rules which have to be fixed.
The UCI is to appeal the Danish verdict that cleared Alex Rasmussen of a doping ban after three no shows. I groaned when I heard the news as it appears Rasmussen has a solid case. But thinking about it, perhaps some good can come of this appeal?
My first thought is that Alex Rasmussen looks like a lazy idiot, he could throw away a career and a decent contract with a top team simply because he didn’t think about updating his Whereabouts. It’s annoying but it is the duty of a pro .
But as ever, there are rules and after taking a look at them, my thoughts are a bit more confused. You see, there’s a chance that Rasmussen is free to ride.
Here’s the press release issued by the HTC-Highroad team. I don’t normally copy n’paste press releases but many were asking what is happening via twitter and so here’s the press release and some thoughts from myself tacked on below.
Rasmussen and Hembo team up First there was the cryptic press release yesterday. We got news that Michael Rasmussen’s biggest fan Christina Hembo has bought an entire Continental team for him. Hembo runs a watch company and is a long-time backer of Rasmussen, now she’s increased her sponsorship from one man to an entire team … Read more
Whilst everyone is entitled to a second or even a third chance, sport is a cruel place. If you can’t compete, you’re out. Looking at the past So I’m left surprised when I read about the likes of Rasmussen and Rebellin. Both these two riders have been busted for doping but they also share another … Read more
It’s Monday morning and time to review Michael Rasmussen’s weekend dancing in the Danish TV Show “Wild With Dance”. Only this will be the last update on The Chicken’s dance moves. Things ended in familiar style with Rasmussen being thrown out of the competition, only without Prudhomme, Cassani and De Rooy on the jury this … Read more
Michael Rasmussen was once famous for dancing up the hills on his tricked out Colnago Extreme-C but these days he’s reduced to dancing in the confines of a Danish TV studio, in the celebrity TV show Vild Med Dans show, Wild With Dance. The show is proving popular in Denmark Michael rejectedLast weekend’s show saw … Read more
Danish TV ran with some powerful allegations last night. TV2’s “Lige På og Sport” claimed to have seen a document resulting from disgraced Austrian sports manager Stefan Matschiner. Matschiner’s been linked to Bernhard Kohl but rumours put him with Michael Rasmussen. And last night Denmark’s TV2 accused Rasmussen of a further blood doping offence, storing … Read more