Ras suspended for two years

Bro Deal

Note that his suspension starts the day he left the Tour. FLandis got seven additional months added to the time he stopped racing.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

Crankyfeet

That oughta teach the bastards not to appeal...

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Eldrack

In the interests of fairness they should be allowed to appeal and not be penalised for taking advantage of that right. It means the convictions are more watertight.

But in the case of Ras, looks like the dopers are going down, one at a time. Record number of convictions in the past few years perhaps? Shows there's at least some hope.

whiteboytrash

well bar that spanish bloke Ras was shaking hands with at the Giro....... he's immune to any interrogation.....

C'dale Girl

<insert sarcasm> Yeah, we need to discourage that appeals process . . . that stuff's in the procedural rule books merely for show. Nobody's supposed to really take them up on that . . . it costs too much money. <end sarcasm> (btw, I know you were being sarcastic too).

I think after the Flandis mess, the riders will think long and before filing an appeal and it will be a long time before we see another.

TheDarkLord

Well, we know how screwed up the system is - some riders protected, others ostracized and persecuted to hell, inconsistent punishments, etc. Don't expect anything to get any better as long as McQuaid and Heiny are running the show.

kennf

Meanwhile, a verdict is expected tomorrow in Ras's case against Rabobank. If Ras "hits" it, he won't have to worry about cycling anymore.

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"Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things"

-- Some dude

TheDarkLord

I hope he gets something. Not because he is innocent, but because the higher-ups were as guilty as Chicken in this affair. And to let them go scot-free is just wrong and just reinforces the current situation of riders getting strung up high while the team staff go free.

plectrum

It really depends how clever he ahs been throughout his career to keep records of evidence that Rabobank board members knew about doping within the teams and actually encouraged it. If he has this then it is case closed he will get 10m+

I still think he should whistle blow, the French papers would pay a fortune for a Rasmussen exposee but there is a chance he would get sued to buggery by everyone!

plectrum

I also hope he gets something because regardless of all gone before, the performance last year by Ras was incredible. He was incredibly single minded in the first ITT, a bit lucky because of the weather breaks but still great. Obviously the crowning glory was how after being undone just once by COntador he adapted and completely worked out how to break the youngster by just keeping a constant high tempo pace allowing Contador to break and rest, break and rest until he was spent .... and then the dramatic attack which evoked this response from Eurosport commentator(not exact quote):

'Rasmussen attacks, Rasmussen attacks, Contador's cracked ...... and then ' Is he in the big cog, I can't believe what I am seeing Rasmussen is standing up attacking in the big cog'

Classic!

Bro Deal

I hope he gets nothing. If he were willing to talk and say that he was doping and that the management knew it then I would be all for him making bank off the situation. But he wants to have his cake and eat it too. He is still claiming innocence; it is the ol' big bad Rabo that unjustly stopped him from winning the TdF.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

Rolfrae

From Eurosport:
Rasmussen sacking 'legal'

Eurosport | Wed, Jul 2, 10:17 A Dutch court rules that Danish cyclist Michael Rasmussen was justifiably sacked by Rabobank the 2007 Tour de France. However, the court ordered Rabobank to pay Rasmussen 700,000 euros in damages for firing the cyclist with immediate effect last July. He had been seeking 5.5 million euros.

TheDarkLord

I thought he admitted that he lied about his whereabouts, but that the management knew that he was lying.

Rolfrae

That is exactly it. He said he had lied to the UCI but not to team management.

He didn't however mention anything about lying to his fans and pretending he was clean. He has tried to make it seem that the only issue is the whereabouts lie - never mind that the lie was used in order to prevent him being dope tested during his crucial training period.

What about the big doping lie Ras?

That's the one we're all really interested in and that's why nobody cares that you'll never ride the Tour again.