Danish cyclist sacked and suspended

Rasmussen (C) celebrates gold on Men’s Scratch Podium during 2005 UCI Track Cycling World Championships [GETTY]

Denmark’s four-time track cycling world champion Alex Rasmussen has been suspended by his national federation, and sacked by his team, for missing three out-of-competition doping controls during the past 18 months.

The Danish cycling federation said in a statement that the HTC-Highroad rider has been ordered to appear before a sports tribunal of the Danish sports federation and will not be competing in next week’s world championships in Copenhagen.

“During the last 18 months (Rasmussen) missed three doping tests and received two warnings from Anti-Doping Denmark and one from the International Cycling Union (UCI),” the cycling federation statement added.

The 27-year-old – twice a world champion in scratch (2005 and 2010) and who took gold in Madison and Team pursuit in the 2009 championships – has failed to translate his success on the track to road racing since he turned professional in 2009.

Rasmussen’s best results have been two stage wins in last year’s Four Days to Dunkirk race for Team Saxo Bank.

He signed a two-year contract last month to ride with American team Garmin next season after the HTC-Highroad announced they were folding at the end of the year having failed to find a backer.

HTC-Highroad reacted to the news by immediately terminating his contract.

“Upon notification of a missed test, Alex Nikki Rasmussen’s contract with HTC- Highroad has been terminated with immediate effect for breach of the team’s code of conduct,” a statement said.

“The Team was also notified that Rasmussen had two missed tests in 2010 prior to joining HTC-Highroad that had not been previously reported to the team.”

HTC-Highroad team manager Rolf Aldag added: “Mr. Rasmussen missed a test and additionally did not inform the team. These are clear violations of the team’s code of conduct. We act on these violations immediately.”