Paris - The head of the organization that runs the Tour de France was quoted Monday as saying that he regretted the presence in the race of the current leader and possible winner of the Tour, Michael Rasmussen of Denmark. "I regret that he was put in the Tour by his manager after being warned by the (world's governing body) UCI," Patrice Clerc, head of the Amaury Sport Organization, told the daily Le Figaro.
The 33-year-old Rasmussen, who led the race by 2:23 minutes at the start of Monday's 15th stage, was dropped from the Danish national cycling team for missing two out-of-competition doping tests this year. If he misses a third, he could be suspended for two years.
Clerc said that Rasmussen "showed a guilty carelessness in the crisis that is currently plaguing his sport in not living up to his administrative responsibilities."
He also told Le Figaro that it was impossible to guarantee a perfectly clean Tour de France.
"I'm not so naive that I believe that doping will disappear with a wave of the magic wand," Clerc said. "Or to say, as certain broadcasters demand, We guarantee you a competition without doping. No one can do that. In any sport. Nor in any aspect of life, by the way."
