[fixedpip]

What do other folks make about this?

1) Firstly Rasmussen admits to lying to the UCI
2) Secondly he returned a 'non-negative urine sample for the banned erythropoietin (EPO)'.

See here for more details (including his blood passport):
http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/rasmussen-i-wasnt-in-mexico-but-rabobank-knew-13072
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/7085287.stm

Its all a little disappointing from the Chicken and it shows that the decision to withdraw him from the Tour was probably right. At best, he needs to get his act together and at worst, he's proved that all those that railed against him were absolutely right.

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[FastFreddy]

This is interesting – first the non-negative test for EPO during the TdF. Did this story break in September and I just missed it? The BBC said that the tests “could not legally be termed positive” -- but what does that mean? And isn’t this a big deal even if it’s unofficial for some reason?

Secondly, the feud brewing between the Chicken and Rabobank… :fight: He’s claiming that they knew all along that he didn’t go to Mexico in June.

[rufvelo]

...
Its all a little disappointing from the Chicken and it shows that the decision to withdraw him from the Tour was probably right. At best, he needs to get his act together and at worst, he's proved that all those that railed against him were absolutely right...

True, a calculated admission of lies, never looks good.

[StephenH]

If it was pretty obvious that all the other competitors were absolutely on the up-and-up and never touched any of this stuff, or did anything that hinted of drug/medical advantages, then I'd have more opinion on somebody like this.

[FastFreddy]

.
.
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Secondly, the feud brewing between the Chicken and Rabobank… :fight: He’s claiming that they knew all along that he didn’t go to Mexico in June.

This story on VeloNews.com (http://www.velonews.com/race/int/articles/13648.0.html) puts a finer point on some of these issues. The article states that Rabobank’s team knew that he didn’t go to Mexico in June but the team failed to report that to the sponsor (Rabobank.) The team’s manager resigned as a result of this.

The article also quotes the Chicken as claiming that he made up the Mexico story “for personal and marital reasons alone” – if you believe that I’ve got some waterfront land in Florida to sell you.

[urodacus]

^ Florida? Can you tell me more? Is it on the Gulf coast or the Atlantic? Looking forward to hearing more. PM me.

[Hornbiker]

This is interesting – first the non-negative test for EPO during the TdF. Did this story break in September and I just missed it? The BBC said that the tests “could not legally be termed positive” -- but what does that mean? And isn’t this a big deal even if it’s unofficial for some reason?

Not positive (er, "non-negative" as they say :rolleyes:) for EPO per se...positive for Dynepo, a form of pharmaceutical erythropoietin (EPO) under development as a pharmaceutical product.

Rasmussen did not technically violate anti-doping rules, as apparently Dynepo is not yet a prohibited substance---too new I guess. Or I've also read that labs aren't sure yet how to characterize a positive for it. Either way, it WILL be prohibited when the labs catch up, I'm sure of that.