MIchael Rasmussen was suspended again, this time for 18 months by TAS for failure to comply with anti-doping rules. He had previously been acquitted by the Danish National Olympic Committee who had decided there was a procedural error on the part of the UCI. The UCI wanted a two year suspension because Rasmussen hadn’t submitted to doping controls and had not met the requirements for another incident during 18 months. The CAS decided that the procedural error (relating to communication delays) did not change the fact that a drug test had been missed by Rasmussen already after two breaches.
He won four world championship titles on the track before turning professional in 2009 and joining the Saxo Bank road team. In 2011 HTC-Columbia canceled its contract with him for failing a drug test. After the decision of its Olympic committee not to punish, he joined Garmin, including participation in the Tour of Italy 2012.
Garmin’s director, Jonathan Vaughters, announced in the wake of the CAS decision that “a contract (Rasmussen) was automatically terminated, as is the case when there is suspension.” “The management of this case as a whole was very disappointing (…) We need to improve things at that level,” lamented Vaughters, presenting Rasmussen as “a good guy, very disorganized but a good guy.” “I wish it were in the team for several years now, we could have a little help in locating procedures, because we are very strict in this matter,” he concluded.
