Team Fires Tour de France Leader Rasmussen

NPR | By Eleanor Beardsley,

Michele Norris

Published July 25, 2007 at 4:00 PM EDT

Click for a larger interactive map of the Tour de France route.

Two major teams have withdrawn from the Tour de France in the past two days after their riders failed drug tests.

And then, late Wednesday, another bombshell: Michael Rasmussen, the man who was leading the Tour, was fired by his team.

Rasmussen was taken out of the race by the Rabobank team after questions arose about his whereabouts when he was unavailable for doping exams earlier this year.

Rasmussen won Wednesday's stage and had looked set to win the race, which ends Sunday.

Earlier Wednesday, cyclists from eight French and German teams sat out the start of stage 16.

They said they delayed their start to protest the drug abuse in their sport.

Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

That means $2.1 million per year that Connecticut Public relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.

Donate

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

Federal funding is gone.

Donate