Rider frustrated with delay, says he just wants to get a decision on the matter
One month and two weeks after he was fired by the HTC Highroad over three whereabouts violations, Danish rider Alex Rasmussen has revealed that his hearing in relation to the matter will take place on November 17th.
The disciplinary process, which will take place almost exactly two months after the news broke, will determine what sanction is given to the 27 year old road and track rider. He faces a ban of up to two years, although he is hoping that it will be less than this.
“The wait is a little annoying,” he told Sporten.dk. “The case is clear and I just want a decision, so I can get on. But unfortunately DIF [the Danish Sports Federation] cannot get people together for consultation before that.” Rasmussen spoke about the issue on the day that the story broke, explaining to VeloNation that the offence was two missed tests plus one late submission of his whereabouts information. “There was one when the testers came to Denmark but I was riding the six days of Berlin; and another when they came to Girona and I’d gone home to Denmark for my sister’s confirmation and I hadn’t updated my whereabouts,” he said.
“The third offence was regarding ‘quarters’ as we call them – you have to have your whereabouts form for the following three month period completed five days prior to that quarter starting…I was late with my submission.”
It is thought that Rasmussen’s lawyers may try to get the case dropped altogether on the basis of apparent delays in the process. UCI rules state that the rider must be informed of the violation with 14 days of it happening, and he then has 14 days to respond. After that, WADA must be informed and, once that is done, there is then a 30 day period within which the UCI must open disciplinary proceedings.
The missed whereabouts filing occurred on April, but HTC Highroad said that it wasn’t informed until September. If it transpires that the UCI didn’t start disciplinary proceedings during the timeframe laid out, its own article 111 in the anti-doping regulations dictates that the offence should be thrown out. Rasmussen would therefore be free to return to racing.
He had been due to join Garmin-Cervélo, which stated in September that it wouldn’t now take him on board. Rasmussen has stated that the situation has changed slightly since then, with the team deciding to take a ‘wait and see’ approach. If he is cleared, there may yet be a chance that he will compete with the American ProTeam.