The Chicken Finally Clucks
By Ashton | Permalink |
3 comments | July 30th, 2007 | Trackback
Michael Rasmussen, who was booted from le Tour de France while wearing the Yellow Jersey one day after having probably secured his eventual winning of the race, recently gave an extensive interview on the past week’s events to Denmark’s TV2. It has been reported on The Cycling News and the entire report can be read here.
Rasmussen specifically denied ever having done anything wrong. Perhaps this is the most telling portion of the entire story:
Exactly where Rasmussen was at the time is now hazy, with the rider refusing to comment on this key point. When repeatedly pressed on the topic, and confronted with a question of having documents such as passports to support his version of events, Rasmussen would only respond: “Well, what I am saying is that now we have to see what the [legal] case brings and we will take it from there.”
I agree with Rasmussen that the best rider did not win the race. What we do not know is whether Rasmussen’s superior performance was artificially produced to some degree. I hope time will tell.
Comments
Jessica, I agree completely. Furthermore, it appears that Rasmussen’s case is the only one not subject to complaints about the integrity or accuracy of the testing lab.
My point was that Rasmussen did not produce the documents that should have proved his innocence. In American jurisprudence we call that “an admission by silence.” That means when a person is confronted with an allegation and he refuses to deny it, that refusal can be construed as an admission of the truthfulness of the allegation.
Ooh, “admission by silence” - I like it. Yes, it appears that’s what’s going on here. And you’re right, this is at least one case where no one can point a finger at that French lab! Man, I’d really hate to be working there - even as the receptionist! - right about now.
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If he hadn’t done anything wrong, he wouldn’t have missed four out-of-competition doping tests - no matter what the reason behind them. I think the best guy *who wasn’t trying to hide something* won the Tour.