Race leader Rasmussen sacked from Tour

The Tour de France is in crisis after race leader Michael Rasmussen was sacked for "breaking team rules".

The 33-year-old Dane is said to have "lied about his whereabouts" when he failed to turn up for mandatory drug testing.

Rasmussen has been under suspicion for the better part of a week after the Danish national team announced he would be stood down from this year's World Championships and next year's Olympics.

He has failed to attend four mandatory drug testing sessions over the past two years and now appears to have lied to his Rabobank team about his whereabouts last month - informing them he was in Mexico, when he was in Italy.

News of Rasmussen's axing by his team has cast yet another long shadow over the sport of cycling which has been plagued by scandal in recent years.

On Tuesday, his main challenger, Alexandre Vinokourov, was withdrawn from the race for an illegal drug transfusion.

Floyd Landis won the 2006 Tour but has since been embroiled in drugs allegations and has been fighting to clear his name after it was announced he had failed a drugs test.

A statement posted on Rasmussen's team's website reads: "On Wednesday night, Michael Rasmussen - the wearer of the yellow jersey - has been withdrawn from the Tour team by the management of the Rabo Cyclingteams, and has been dismissed on the spot.

"Rasmussen appeared to have lied about his true whereabouts in the training period before the Tour de France. Those whereabouts were a crucial part of the argument used by the team management to confront and counter the allegations with regard to the captain.

"Until now, it is unclear whether the other seven Rabo-team riders will appear at the start of the 17th stage on Thursday. The Rabo-staff leaves that up to the riders to decide."

Rasmussen's enforced exit has greatly enhanced the victory hopes of Australian Cadel Evans, who has now moved from third to second place overall and trails newly-installed leader Alberto Contador by just 1 min 57 sec.

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