Home » Top Stories » Road »

Friday's EuroFile: De Rooy leaves Rabobank; Vuelta says no to Vino'

Published: Aug. 3, 2007

Rabobank manager, Theo de Rooy has resigned, according to a team statement issued Friday.

De Rooy became the center of some controversy on July 25th, when he dismissed Michael Rasmussen from the team, while the Danish rider was leading the Tour de France.

The team said that de Rooy had "decided to step down, in consultation with the Rabobank."

De Rooy fired Rasmussen for allegedly lying about his whereabouts in an attempt to avoid out-of-competition doping tests. Rasmussen, who has vehemently denied the accusations, missed tests in May and June.

The two-time Tour de France climber's jersey winner said he was in Mexico at the time, but at least one witness placed him in Italy during the time in question.

"After the disappointments in the last Tour de France, de Rooy wants to have the time and peace to consider his future. Rabobank understands and respects this decision," the statement noted.

A former member of the team, De Rooy became manager in 2003 and was named general director in 2004.

"This parting is very hard for me, very very hard," he said. "The team is my life and my love. But I didn't see any other choice."

The team also named an investigative panel to look into events surrounding this year's Tour and Rasmussen's firing in particular.

No Vino' in Spain
Alexandre Vinokourov, will not be able to defend his Vuelta a España title after he was expelled from the Tour de France for blood doping, organizers said Friday. "He will not be able in any manner to register for the 2007 Vuelta," organizers said in a statement seen by AFP, adding they wanted to see a clean race after the doping scandals in France over the past month. The decision is largely symbolic, since Vinokourov has been fired by his team and remains under suspension pending the outcome of his doping case.

But they revealed that they would invite the disgraced Kazakh's Astana team to the race, which is one of the top events on the international calendar.

"Faithful to our mission, tradition and history as organizers of the Vuelta we hereby declare that we will take all moral and financial measures at the disposition of Spanish and international authorities to ensure the event goes ahead under the highest standards of reliability," organizers said.

They also stressed they were bound to "consider as our priority objective the credibility of our sport" in saying no to the likes of Vinokourov while indicating Astana deserved a "gesture of support" for trying to put its house in order.

Astana sacked its team leader following Vinokourov's expulsion from the Tour after he failed a drug test in the aftermath of his 13th stage win on July 21. He also tested positive in a second test taken on July 23.

The rider's sample revealed the presence of "two distinct blood populations."

The 33-year-old Vinokourov insists he would have had to be "crazy" to have doped.