Amsterdam - The Rabobank team had the right to fire Danish cyclist Michael Rasmussen during the Tour de France of 2007, a court in the city of Utrecht ruled on Wednesday. However, the court also ruled Rasmussen should not have been fired on the spot.
Therefore the court determined that the Rabobank, Rasmussen's employer, should pay him 700,000 euros (1.1 million dollars) in
compensation.
The amount is the equivalent of two monthly salaries plus the 400,000 euros he would have received had he won the Tour.
Last year, Rabobank fired Rasmussen, 34, after it seemed the cyclist had lied about his whereabouts prior to the Tour de France and subsequently missed several doping tests.
But Rasmussen claims his employer knew exactly where he was: that he was training in Italy and not in Mexico. The cyclist insists he never lied.
The cyclist had launched a suit against his former employer for firing him towards the end of the 2007 Tour while he was wearing the yellow jersey of the overall race leader.
He demanded more than 5.5 million euros in compensation for Rabobank's decision to fire him.
