Back in Pau: 20 years on from Lance Armstrong’s first Tour win | Jeremy Whittle
18 July 2019 02:48
City that hosts Friday’s time trial has been on a doping ley line, a focal point for scandal, for almost two decadesThe foie gras, strawberries and red wine have long been cleared away and in a deserted press tent in Albi, Michael Rasmussen is talking about the time he was kicked off the 2007 Tour de France with final victory in Paris in sight. In a new book, The Yellow Jersey, Rasmussen describes the humiliation and desperation of fleeing the 2007 Tour under cover of darkness after his lies over his anti-doping whereabouts status caught up with him.Bundled into a rental car at midnight by his team boss, just hours after celebrating victory in the yellow jersey on the Col d’Aubisque, he was left alone in a remote bed and breakfast at the foot of the Pyrenees, where he contemplated suicide. “I walked around and look for some way to hang myself,” the Dane recalled. “If I’d had a gun I would have shot myself. It was almost unbelievable what they did to me considering all that I had done for them.” Related: 'Better late than never': Chris Froome awarded 2011 Vuelta title after Cobo ban Continue readingread full article
