Tour de France 2007 - stage 16 - Michael Rasmussen drops Contador and is set to win GC

Tour de France 2007 - stage 16 - Orthez - Gourette-Col d'Aubisque, 218.5 km.
Last stage in the Pyrenees. Carlos Sastre, Iban Mayo, Mauricio Soler went in an early attack. Sastre was trying to get on the podium. But they were cougth on the last mountain, Col d'Aubisque.
But the stage will be rememberd for Michael Rasmussen dropping Alberto Contador and taking the biggest win of his career. Rasmussen was clearly the best climber in the Tour and the world by this point. He had the Tour win locked down, with over 3 minutes till nr2. on GC.
But things were about to get messy!
Danish commentary.

[@aaronramnarain8142]

Alright, I get it, he doped but he was to win the Tour. It's sad that most people remember him for his shit ITT in the 2005 TDF, losing his 3rd place or bc he was a dope. Guys like Richard Virenque who were caught, are glorified on France television and get to be animators Eurosport France like nothing happened. No one bats an eye. Why? Obviously because he's French. I was 12 back in the day, and I can remember Thierry Adam who was on commentary for France Television butchering Rasmussen and indirectly claiming he doped, when the guy was never caught, in front of millions watching on live television. This same commentator was on the mic when Andy Schleck won the last great attack I saw on the Tour in 2011, screaming and whining on how Voeckler kept his yellow jersey. I get it, Voeckler was a hard working guy, but any person in the right sense of mind, would know that there was no way, Voeckler could keep up with likes of Schleck, Evans and company if they were really into the race and I am saying this because Voeckler wearing the jersey was pure luck. Getting back to Rasmussen, he was never caught, he admitted it later. He was sacked by Rabobank for 'not disclosing his location' which we all know is fishy but it was really sad to hear the French talking shit about one of the best pure climbers I've ever seen.

[@CyclingMemories]

Thanks for your commet! I totally agree with you! The hypocrisy most stop - every top rider did the same, and still some a treated as criminals and others as heroes. Rasmussen's case heartbreaking :)

[@basant27]

Im a pure fans of Rasmussen;this guy is a V12 in the mountain. he merits all his credits.

[@barath4545]

Dane here and watched intensively back then. The reason Rasmussen was trying to obscure his location, was actually not the doping as he was fairly sure he was no more subjected to getting caught than the rest, but because his GF did not know he had a second GF on the location, he said he was never at :) So at least the Danish story at that time, was that, no for once this was not a doping lie, but a lie to keep his GF/marriage at the time :)

[@blackmamba3060]

@Smattless Yeah, Floyd Landis doping and Contador doping are massively different. Contador got caught with traces that barely exceed the amount found in steak. Floyd Landis was doped out of his mind.

[@pizzabagerenmujaffa8123]

They are all doped .....,those who are not doped are sitting in the cars , destributing the epo

[@durianriders]

beast mode!

[@outdoorvertical]

Dreamin'

[@aquilonianace4791]

Strongest cyclist I've ever seen. He was an absolute monster in 2007 tdf. Badass

[@danfuerthgillis4483]

He was kicked out of the 2007 Tour for missing doping tests from his Team. He was doped to the gills in this Tour, this is also the 2007 TDF that 2 teams were kicked out for doping. He later admitted to the doping, there was no need any idiot can see he was doping here!

[@HolgerDanske874]

@@danfuerthgillis4483 And so is Pogacar.

[@danfuerthgillis4483]

@@HolgerDanske874 I would not doubt that, in Southern Ontario with the weather conditions here ( horrible for pro cycling) at 175 lbs, 7 kg bike, 60mm wheels you top out at 40 km hr ( and that is pushing close to 400 watts) and you literally have to put your body weight on top of the hoods area or else you will end up in a coma as your bike goes flying into the side of the road. This is at only 15-20 km hr winds. I sometimes can't even ride my Carbon bike here, I take my old 1x7 speed 14kg gmc denali road bike because the cross winds are impossible to use the lightweight bikes without crashing every 5 minutes. When I am on the heavy road bike the winds do not affect me that much. So you take a TDF rider here at 150 lbs and they would literally be killed here during a solo break away.

[@jasonstevenson110]

@@HolgerDanske874 Yes. But Pogacar is more talented than Chicken (or Vingo). Chicken got what he deserved. A badass creation of superior doping which he admitted afterwards. No respect from me.

[@erminiopreziosi1967]

Strongest doper ever !

[@Kodyr710]

Thank you for my favourite moment in the tour, Michael! You are a legend and should not have been thrown out that year. Jesper Vorre ruined it all for you and all us danes that year..

[@maxneuman9841]

He missed multiple doping tests his own fault

[@dennisengholm2067]

Michael wasnt anymore doped than All the rest. He won that year- All the rest is bullshit

[@Fjordkrog]

Jeg begriber ikke at vi bliver ved med at hylde vinderne fra den periode. De snød hver og en og den der tog mest medicin eller responderede bedst på det vandt. Nægter at anerkende dem som store mestre. Armstrong havde aldrig vundet 7 TDF og Riss havde aldrig vundet den ene. Anerkender vi har set godt cykelløb. Begriber heller ikke at nogen ville ha Riis med til Grand depart i DK. Han vandt med snyd og kørte et cykelhold der flød med doping.

[@erminiopreziosi1967]

@@dennisengholm2067 currently the winner of 2007 tdf is Contador! Not the doper Rasmussen! Contador 9 gt Rasmussen 0!

[@telmolicious]

@@maxneuman9841 No he didn’t.

[@SuperBarytone]

There were people behind the scenes looking to get rid of Rasmussen. Even among the leadership of the Rabobank team they were not supportive of him. So much talk on punishing riders who are doped. Does it not seem strange that we focus on punishing the riders rather than also punishing the leadership who make blood doping, epo, cera, use of growth hormones etc. possible?

[@hfregis]

Muri parking à

[@moegigo]

Rasmussen out because of Doping claim. Contador wins😀

[@KeefLegit]

Wijsneus heeeeeee

[@telmolicious]

@@moegigoExactly 😂

[@kaspernon]

And the attack/Contador drops, is for some reason not in the video???

[@christiankeil7845]

Beautiful colnago

[@blablabla1981]

Fantastisk at se en dansker sår langt fremme i Touren. vi må håbe Fulgsang, Magnus Cort, og Valgren kan kommer til at vise deres bedste

[@RAYSAYFUL]

Jeg tvivler. Fuglsang er max til en top 3-5 i GT. Til gengæld er han fremragende i 1. uges- samt i endagsløb. Men det vil han ikke satse på...

[@okpetroleum9118]

vingevingevingegaard

[@mikkeljulius7313]

DOPE!

[@konne87]

Det giver stadigvæk gåsehud det her !

[@CyclingMemories]

Helt vildt! :D

[@Paco-ib1lg]

Var det dengang at de ikke havde rettigheder til hele etapen?

[@oscarfindsen5308]

Har du en ide om hvad tid du ligger 17 etape op på youtube

[@CyclingMemories]

Regner med at have alle etaper ude i løbet af de næste par dage. De sidste 4 etaper har jeg så vidt jeg husker kun som higlights - kan huske at lysten til at optage resten af touren ikke var så stor efter Rasmussen blev smidt ud....da føltes det helt ligegyldigt ;).....men har en video med hans udsmidning og det første interview han gav efterfølgende.

[@ecw445]

Du må meget gerne uploade der hvor han bliver smidt ud :)

[@oscarfindsen5308]

Klasse præstation af Michael bare ærgerligt at han blev smidt ud😓

[@CyclingMemories]

Ja det var fantastisk! Det der skete efterfølgende er til at græde over! :D

[@barath4545]

If they let Riis, Ullrich and Pantani keep their titles, it was pure hypocracy to not let Michael finish the tour and then settle matters with the whole whereabouts things. Such a travesty, as they were all doped anyway. Even steak-Contador lost a title for what was really minute traces of some drug from beef-gate.

[@SuperBarytone]

When someone gets caught fair enough but yeah Michael wasn't at the time. What makes me sad is the conditions riders faced maybe even still in certain ways to this date. There were and maybe are people still involved behind the scenes who set the stage for possible doping programmes but it is ofcourse the rider who takes the blame and not those behind his doping programme along with him. It takes an expensive setup and team do have a succesful programme when it comes to something like blood doping and ofcourse there are other ways to enhance performance in an unethical and/or illegal manner. Point is you need people with expertise knowing how to stay under the radar and pass different tests and it is unfortunately an investment certain teams have done in very recent history. Take a look at the docu Icarus from 2017 f.ex. Gives you some insight into the matter.

[@Aegis90]

Riis didn't get to keep his title because he admitted being doped when winning it. If Ullrich and Patani (had he been alive) had admitted winning their titles with doping they would have been stripped their titles as well. As they should.

[@simonjrgensen6761]

@@Aegis90 Riis is still listed as the 1996 winner. Indurain was obviously doped as well btw.

[@Aegis90]

@@simonjrgensen6761 Apparently we are both right. ASO does not recognize Riis victory whereas UCI does. ASO are less forgiving than UCI

[@jenspetersen5865]

Yes the whole Lance Armstrong and Operation Puerte where they could not figure that blood marked Valv was for Valverde but they figured out what Basso's dog was named....

[@AlonsoRules]

That was Michael's tour, it's not fair he was not able to complete it

[@vignales81]

EPO 🚀

[@jasonstevenson110]

IMO Denmark's answer to Lance, attention to details - including doping. Evans didn't rate him in MTB. Until 2007 he was only really a KOM specialist. Rasmussen transformed for the 2007 Tour after that embarrassing TT in 2005 TdF. This transformation was obvious enough. Then lying to his team about his whereabouts before the 2007 Tour gave his team little choice to avoid being completely discredited so they yanked him. Kudos to Rabobank it would have been easier to let him win the Tour.

[@peterfireflylund]

A French or Spanish team would never have fired him.

[@TellusJD]

No he did not lie to rabobank, they knew it, and Rasmussen sued the team later and won some money for their hypocrisy , they said they didnt know but they knew. Furthermore they facilitated him with blood doping contacts etc. Further more many years later the whole reason he said he was in mexico and wasn't turned out to be a cover to having an affair and not the doping. He still doped, but it was not the reason for his downfall. He tried to keep his marriage, while having an affair.

[@jasonstevenson110]

@@TellusJD Sure Rabobank weren't angels but either way he's a cheat and it would have been an injustice if he won that Tour. Rasmussen's transformation for the 2007 TdF was stark and of course he admitted afterwards he upped his doping ante. Similar to Lance in that regard. Like I said, Evans didn't rate him in MTB.

[@mortenfrosthansen84]

He could never have doped, without the support of the team. They knew everything and made it happen.. When it looked like they were about to get caught, they tried to wash their hands. That's low man.. real low

[@abone2pick]

2009 was the only year contador legitimately won the tour.

[@MarshallGA12]

maybe

[@TellusJD]

True but that one was also the only time he really deserved it, smashing armstrong and making the highest VAM score ever recorded on a climb on verbier. 2010 he should have won too - and did win at the time- but was Disqualified due to positive on "salt butamol" in a bloodtest (asthma inhaler) and now the records state that andy schleck won that tour. Assuming everybody was on a level playing field which I'm sure they were.

[@swagbag1835]

Justitsmord!

[@krakke3188]

Michael won TDF that year, and I don't care what anybody says!

[@ettio]

The whole rabo team knew before the start of the tour he lied about his where abouts. It was hypocrite to put him out the tour.

[@kaspernon]

Ikke ret godt klippet, desværre. Forstår feks. ikke hvorfor øjeblikket hvor Contador slipper, ikke er med.

[@CyclingMemories]

Kaspernon der var desværre en del udfald på det gamle VHS bånd 😉

[@claraemiliedevasher7879]

Det skrev du også for to måneder siden. Du burde sætte pris på, at der er nogle folk derude, som finder sådanne klip frem fra gemmerne og bruger tid på at klippe det sammen.

[@hbs2148]

@@CyclingMemories sådan er det med de gamle VHS bånd fedt du uploader

[@dkynwa4593]

"thanks" jesper worre

[@FaiscaaaH]

Ok Ok they all doped, that's right, but nowadays i am seeing the TOP riders beating all the times on the major climbs, and doing 7 watts kilo for 20\30 min is a normal thing. Come on, be serious.

[@Admire]

The bikes are better and lighter and the stages are shorter

[@TellusJD]

7 watts per kg for 20 minutes is by no means the norm right now. Actually no rider has done that at all in moderntimes. not for 20 minutes and certainly not for 30. The only rider to get close is Jonas Vingegaard, on marie blanche where he did about an estimated 6,9 for 20 minutes which was his best ever in that time area of 20 minutes. Compare that with fx. 1996 Riis did 35 minutes for 7 watts or 6,97 which has been estimated, thats waaay faster than today. Jonas, Pogacar, and Remco hasnt done more than 6,4-6,5 in that time range. which is 10% slower. About what you expect EPO vs non EPO.

[@user-wo6wb2zj3w]

Sorry, my English is very bad, that why I write in Russian: То, как собственная команда разделалась с Рассмуссеном, тем более когда команда шла к такой большой победе - один из самых гнусных поступков в истории спорта. Я думаю, что в закулисье велоспорта никому не была выгодна победа Рассмуссена, не случайно его раньше не разоблачали, а только после последнего горного этапа, они до последнего ждали, что он сам не выдержит, но он не только выдержал, но и укрепил своё преимущество, а когда всё стало понятно, вот так вот слили.

[@larskarlssondk]

What a disgrace to take away the win of TdF from Michael Rasmussen. Not forgotten by anyone who knows the sport.

[@riquelmeone]

What a joke comment. If you know the sport you should not hail anyone, least of them Rasmussen. He is no better than any of the other guys. It's not a disgrace they removed him, it's a disgrace they did not catch many many more in those years.

[@larskarlssondk]

@@riquelmeone know the facts - he was never found guilty in actual doping use. He missed out on documenting one of his his whereabouts.

[@riquelmeone]

@@larskarlssondk He was removed from the Tour by his own team if you want to talk facts. And they did that because they in turn did not want to have the same thing happen to them as Astana. Apart from that Rasmussen confirmed himself he doped, however none of his results were nullified. So, tell me again where exactly is the disgrace here?

[@dannyrose8699]

@@riquelmeone The disgrace here is let him finish the Tour. All of the GC contenders doped, so why not make a decision after the TDF. They said they didn't know where he was but they did and later on he sued the Team and got some money out of it. Rabobank is known for forcing doping on their rides that's the reason the team doesn't exist anymore.

[@riquelmeone]

@@dannyrose8699 How naive is that? The Tour had just been through 2006 with the winner at the time stripped of his title afterwards. Even more recently it had seen Vinokourov's doping and the Astana team leaving the Tour as a result. You think Rabobank wanted to go through that as well? Who knows what happened in the background, but in the light of these things they had to do something. Sure, maybe legally not the most waterproof move, but given the circumstances the only possible one. That other riders doped as well and Rabobank themselves were not innocent is very true but somewhat besides the point here.

[@giuseppec8158]

Davide Cassani doesn't like this

[@heavymetal6910]

Of course it was cheating, but that racing was so much more exciting than the stare at the power meter snooze feasts we get nowadays