“If Rasmussen Isn’t a Cheat, Then He’s an Idiot”

Gary Imlach’s comments on the ITV Tour de France podcast pretty much sum up the Michael Rasmussen missed doping test situation.  If you haven’t heard, ITV is reporting that Michael Rasmussen, the current yellow jersey holder, has missed four doping tests in the last 18 months.  The rules state that three missed tests count as a positive test, but because two of the misses were with Denmark doping agency and two were with the UCI he hasn’t scored three all together with one agency.  Seems like a loophole to me.

 Here are Gary Imlach’s comments:

“The problem is that there is no way of knowing what the substance is.  And, the circumstances surrounding these missed tests are…covered in bureaucracy, and it’s hard to nail them down.  So, in the absence of anything simple to understand,…all kinds of suspicion rushes into the vacuum because you don’t have the full details.  Which is the worst possible thing for the sport.  We don’t know what’s behind it, but what we do know is that if Michael Rasmussen isn’t a cheat, then he’s an idiot.  Because, if you’re a high profile cyclist, how can you not take every possible pain to make sure that your life as a cyclist is transparent and you do all the tedious paperwork and you let people know where you are.  That’s what you have to do!  How can you not do that in this day and age?” 

I think that Imlach got this one right.  You cannot afford to even look suspicious in this era of cycling.  Right now suspicion equals guilt, and under this kind of atmosphere Rasmussen looks pretty guilty.

20 July 2007 | 2007 Tour de France | Comments