Organizers hail Tour de France leader's ouster - International Herald Tribune

"Insisting that 'doping is the enemy, not cycling' and that 'things are changing' for the better, the organizers of the Tour de France hailed the ouster of Michael Rasmussen from the race on Thursday.
Rasmussen, a 33-year-old Dane, was expelled by his Rabobank team late Wednesday for lying about his whereabouts to avoid drug tests before the Tour started July 7.
Instead of being in Mexico, as he repeatedly said, he was seen training in Italy. That unraveled his weeklong defense that he had evaded the unscheduled tests by mistake, not by design.
Rasmussen left his team hotel in Pau late Wednesday for Italy, race officials said, adding that the French police had arrived at the hotel just too late to arrest him."

"Rasmussen lied to avoid tests," Clerc said. "Therefore he cannot remain in the race. It proves that he should not have started the Tour de France."