[DVBC] Vino

Wed Jul 25 20:47:00 EDT 2007

Just as background, this story ran in Velonews a few days ago. So, no
surprise here. Or maybe the surprise is that Rabobank stood up and did the
right thing.

Ex-cyclist levels doping charges at Rasmussen
 By Charles Pelkey
editor, VeloNews.com
This report filed July 20, 2007

A former amateur mountain-bike racer alleged Thursday that Tour de France
yellow-jersey holder Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) attempted to trick him
into carrying illegal doping products to Europe in 2002.

    Rasmussen took over the jersey on Sunday.

photo: *Agence France Presse* - 2007
Whitney Richards, 31, a one-time Colorado-based cross-country racer, told *
VeloNews* that in March of 2002, Rasmussen asked him to transport a box
containing cycling shoes. But the shoebox, according to Richards, actually
contained bags of an American-made human blood substitute. None of the
information Richards provided *VeloNews* involves allegations of current
doping.

Asked by *VeloNews* about the charges at a post-race press conference
following the Tour's 12th stage on Friday, Rasmussen said he was familiar
with Richards' name but declined to comment further on the allegations.

"I cannot confirm any of that. I do know the name," Rasmussen said.

The allegations come on the heels of a decision by the Danish cycling
federation to exclude the Rabobank rider from that country's
world-championship and Olympic teams, citing a dispute over Rasmussen's
failure to notify the agency's anti-doping officials about his whereabouts
in the months leading to the Tour.

Richards said he decided to go public with his allegations after he heard
the Tour leader comment on doping in the sport, promising that cycling fans
could "trust me."

Richards said he and Rasmussen developed a friendship when the Dane came to
the U.S. to prepare for the 2001 world mountain-bike championships in Vail.
Rasmussen won the world cross-country title in 1999, then started his
transition to road racing in 2001 when he signed a *stagiaire* contract with
CSC.

That friendship, said Richards, continued for several months until the
American moved to Italy to live with his girlfriend in March of 2002.

Rasmussen was also living in Italy at the time, and according to Richards,
Rasmussen asked that Richards bring over a pair of cycling shoes he had left
in the United States. Richards agreed and two days prior to his departure, a
mutual friend delivered a box purportedly containing the forgotten cycling
shoes.

In an effort to fit all his belongings in his luggage, Richards opened the
box to discard it and just bring the shoes - he said he then discovered the
bags. Richards said he immediately called a friend - a Ph.D. physiologist -
to help him decide what to do.

"I was blown away," Richards told *VeloNews*. "This wasn't a pair of Sidis
... it was frickin' dog medicine or something."

That friend, Taro Smith, Ph.D., confirmed Richards' recollection of the
incident.

"I came to his house to figure out what was in the package," Smith told *
VeloNews* on Friday. "The box was packed full of silver Mylar packages
labeled with 'Biopure.' Once you opened them there were clear plastic IV
sets with what looked like blood inside. The box was packed full of these.
That's all I know. I don't have first-hand knowledge of where they came from
or who delivered them to Whitney, but I do know what was in the box."

Richards and Smith decided to cut open the bags and pour the contents down
the sink.

"There was no way that I would carry that on to an airplane or carry that
through customs for anyone," said Richards.

According to labels, the bags were filled with a hemoglobin-based oxygen
carrier (HBOC) known as Hemopure, manufactured by the U.S.-based Biopure
Corporation. The product is made from hemoglobin molecules that have been
removed from the red cells of cow's blood. Originally designed as an
emergency blood substitute that requires no refrigeration, Hemopure has only
been approved for human use in South Africa. U.S. clinical trials were
recently suspended over safety concerns, but a similar product is currently
used for veterinary purposes.

Endurance athletes were said to be using the product as a substitute for
blood-doping or EPO use, though no one has ever been convicted of using
Hemopure or other HBOCs. Its use is banned under the World Anti-Doping Code
and the World Anti-Doping Agency developed a low-cost screening test in
2004.

A few weeks later when Richards arrived in Italy, he confronted Rasmussen
about the package and its contents. He claims Rasmussen admitted it was poor
judgment, but then asked Richards what he had done with the hemoglobin
substitute. Richards said Rasmussen became very upset when Richards
explained he had disposed of it, asking him if he had "any idea how much
that shit cost?"

"[Then Rasmussen] stormed upstairs ... and I decided at that point to just
go to the train station and go home," Richards recalled. "Really, he's lucky
I didn't follow him upstairs and punch him in the face right then and
there."

"The nerve of the guy," Richards added. "Not only is he a drug cheat, but he
didn't give a damn about anybody else. He was willing to put me out there to
carry that crap through customs ... into Italy at a time when they were
investigating Dr. [Michele] Ferrari and people were lobbing accusations at
Lance Armstrong. Think about what it would have been like for Italian
customs to catch an American with a bunch of bike gear and cow's blood at
the border."

Richards was offended, so much so that he contacted *VeloNews* later that
same year. However, he asked that the conversation be off-the-record,
declining to be named and asking that Rasmussen also not be mentioned in any
way that he might be recognized. Because of those restrictions,
*VeloNews*did not publish his story.

Several years later, after being put in contact with *Sunday Times of London
* reporter David Walsh, Richards again offered details of the story, but
continued to insist that neither he nor Rasmussen be identified.

"I really just wanted someone to know," said Richards. "But I didn't exactly
know how they might use the information. I didn't feel comfortable going
totally public with this because I knew his girlfriend - now his wife - and
I didn't see a reason to bring her into it. My friends who were pro
mountain-bike racers have always told me I should, because it's guys like
that who are ruining their careers by cheating. Still, it's not a decision
you make lightly."

Walsh opted to use the story as an anecdote in his recently released book,
"From Lance to Landis," but respected Richards' insistence that both parties
remain anonymous.

Indeed, that's where the story would have stopped, except that Rasmussen
moved into the yellow jersey at the Tour de France on Sunday, after an
impressive solo ride to Tignes. Richards said that it wasn't the stage
victory or even the yellow jersey that prompted him to go public with his
story. Instead, it was Rasmussen's recent "trust me" comments during the
Tour's rest day on Monday that prompted Richards to speak out.

"[Rasmussen has] won Tour stages before," Richards said. "It's not that. It
was the press conference on Monday that got to me. Someone asked him about
Bjarne Riis' involvement with drugs and he went on about how he's clean and
then added, 'You can trust me.' That's what set me off."

Richards said he finds it offensive that a rider he knows "for sure is mixed
up with doping" is leading the Tour de France when the race is fighting for
its survival.

"Look at what the Tour has gone through this past year," Richards said.
"Ullrich, Basso and [*Operación*] *Puerto* last year, and the Telekom
confessions this year. Riders are putting their salaries and their careers
on the line to help convince people cycling is clean and this guy gets up
and tells people, 'You can trust me,' something I know for a fact is not
true. The stupidity, the arrogance, the hubris... it's incomprehensible.
Someone needs to know about this."
*VeloNews reporters Neal Rogers and Jason Sumner contributed to this report.
*

On 7/25/07, Len Zanetich <freewheelinguy at verizon.net> wrote:
>
>
> Tom,
>
> Don't you dare use Eddy's name in vain.  :-)  I'm not a doctor either, but
> it can add an increased oxygen level.
>
> Len
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: dvbc-list-bounces at list.dvbc.org
> [mailto:dvbc-list-bounces at list.dvbc.org] On Behalf Of Tom Smyth
> Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 7:57 PM
> To: dvbc-list at dvbc.org
> Subject: Re: [DVBC] Vino
>
> I'm not even close to being a Dr. but several club members are. Can anyone
> explain how a blood transfusion from another person could possibly make
> you
> race better.  I could understand if it was during training and they were
> trying to put clean blood in after doping, but a one day performance
> change
> in a 3 week race?   Landis's trial has shown that the French labs are not
> reliable. Should we really believe that everyone is doping.  According to
> Dick Pound nobody can perform well without doping. That means that
> Contador
> must be guilty too. How about Mercks??  I guess I am nieve and too
> trusting,
>
> but I think a racer with guts can come back from a bad day and perform
> well.
>
> Arrrrrgh this is soooo frustrating!!!!
>
>
> --
> Internal Virus Database is out-of-date.
> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 269.10.2/890 - Release Date: 7/7/2007
> 3:26 PM
>
>
>
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