Danish climber Michael Rasmussen will sit down today with the CDC Calvaire team in order to end his links with the team, according to Danish newspaper Politiken. It was announced at the end of last month that Rasmussen would be riding for the team in 2010 in his return to European racing, after he was fired by the Rabobank team midway through the 2007 Tour de France. The Dane denied the reports were true almost immediately, saying that he had no idea where they could have originated.
“Today’s meeting should provide the foundations for that matter with CDC Cavaliere to be completed in such a manner that both sides suffer the least possible harm,” he said, “how it should be done in detail is not yet known. Further negotiations in this context are left to lawyers, and they already got together on Monday, but from my point of view, today’s conversations should be very positive.
“When we can put an end to this episode, I do not know, but it does not affect my contract with the other team.”
Rasmussen denies signing a contract to ride for CDC Calvaire, but it is clear what the team’s assumption that he would ride for them was based on: “It is true that in early July I signed a letter of intent with CDC Cavaliere, but it is quite clear from the document that it is only a preliminary agreement. It has no legal standing with the International Cycling Union [UCI].”
Despite the wrangling with CDC Calvaire, Rasmussen says that an announcement about his team for 2010 will be made imminently.