Rasmussen retracts statements against Flecha and Freire

Michael Rasmussen has today retracted his accusation that Juan Antonio Flecha and Oscar Freire doped during the 2007 Tour de France. Rasmussen had previously stated that his entire Rabobank team in the 2007 Tour de France doped. However, he has re-worded his statement during an interview with EFE;

"There was organized doping, but it did not include all the riders. Not once in my life did I see Oscar Freire doping. Flecha as well. He also didn't know anything." His previous statement, stated whilst participating in an online chat on dr.dk, implied that he, Denis Menchov, Michael Boogerd, Bram de Groot, Thomas Dekker, Juan Antonio Flecha, Oscar Freire, Grischa Niermann and Pieter Weening had all used doping during the 2007 Tour.

The retraction comes after Oscar Freire reacted angrily to the accusations, and threatened the Dane with legal proceedings should he not retract the statement. Pieter Weening, now of Orica-GreenEDGE, has also commented on Rasmussen's accusations;

"Desperate needs lead to desperate deeds. Rasmussen comes up with different stories every time. He declared something else when he was under oath at the court. It's obvious he is frustrated because he lost the case against Rabobank."

Rabobank and Rasmussen had previously battled in court, when Rasmussen accused the Dutch team of wrongfully sending him home when he was in the lead of the 2007 Tour. The court ruled in Rasmussen's favour, but after an appeal the decision was overturned, and Rasmussen had to repay the 665,000 euros he recieved as damages.

Grischa Niermann also dismissed Rasmussen's comments, stating that he "only recieved vitamins and supplements from the team but no banned substances."