Team Garmin-Sharp sacked Alex Rasmussen after CAS handed him an 18-month ban
Alex Rasmussen of Team Garmin-Sharp has received an 18 month ban after the cyclist failed to provide his whereabouts information.
Team Garmin-Sharp has fired the cyclist after hearing the news, "We have followed the lead of the authorities throughout this process".
"Although the missed whereabouts tests occurred on Alex's previous team, in light of the CAS verdict, Alex will no longer be with Slipstream Sports".
Court of Arbitration for Sport made the announcement on Wednesday that the cyclist has missed three doping tests before joining Team Garmin-Barracuda which is enough to sanction him.
Team Garmin-Sharp General Manager, Jonathan Vaughters has noted that he has not read the ruling yet.
"I don’t know enough about the ruling to make a comment, but I’m a little bit disappointed by the process. It should be much more clear than it has been," said Vaughters.
"It’s a little sad that there wasn’t information-sharing between Saxo Bank, HTC and also with us, because if you look back to when he moved to HTC he had one missed test that they didn’t know about”.
He briefed that the team help the cyclists in keeping track of such matters but the riders also have to take the responsibility in order to better facilitate both the parties.
“However, at the moment medical privacy laws prevent that," he concluded.
Jonathan also cited that the Rasmussen’s suspension will definitely teach a lesson to all the cyclists in the side.
He noted that Alex is a good cyclist but he has to be more organised in order to cope up with all the responsibilities necessary to survive at the top level of the sport.
Vaughters briefed that the team holds a very strict doping policy and that is the main reason why management has decided to remove the cyclist from its squad.
The Dane started his professional career with Team Saxo Bank in 2009 and spent a period of two years with the side.
He accepted an offer from Team HTC-Highroad in 2011 and spent a period of two years with the side before finally accepting an offer from Team Garmin-Barracuda.
Court of Arbitration for Sport has suspended the cyclist for a period of 18 months as announced by the Danish media earlier today.
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