Dekker, Boogerd, Rasmussen and Menchov on the front of the 2007 Tour de France (Photo: Sirotti)
By Brian Canty
One of the former darlings of Dutch cycling has released a book outlining doping, beating drug tests and a series of bizarre incidents including using prostitutes on races.
Thomas Dekker’s ‘My Battle’ looks destined to become a best-seller and in recent days the rider has also admitted he was the rider codenamed 'Clasicomano Luigi' in the ledger of Dr Eufemiano Fuentes at the centre of Operacion Puerto.
In Dekker's book, Michael Rasmussen’s character is also put under the microscope and in one excerpt Dekker recalls how the man nicknamed ‘the chicken’ volunteered to be the Rabobank team leader at the Tour in 2007.
“We do not yet know that he lied about his whereabouts, nor that he is full up to his neck with dope - though we suspect he is," he writes of Rasmussen.
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"We did not know that the team doctors gave him injections Dynepo (EPO) from our stock, though we hear about it long after the Tour.
“Rasmussen turns out to be right; he's very good. In the first real mountain stage of the Tour he is already gone 60 kilometres from the finish. We only see him back after the finish in Tignes, in the yellow jersey."
Another disgraced doper, Michael Boogerd is discussed: “On the Thursday before the (2007) Tour there is a check by the UCI. My hematocrit is 45, Michael's is 50.
“He sits on the edge of the edge. He's a risk; one point higher and he falls through the basket at a doping control.
“The doctors of the team propose every morning at six o'clock, before the controllers can knock to run an infusion of water in his body. That drops your hematocrit two or three points.”
And he also describes how he abused therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) to gain a performance advantage.
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"Every day we use cortisone. The product name is Diprofos. We have a medical certificate.
"I wouldn't even know what it's for, it is a sham. With cortisone we can go deeper during the race. And besides, I am nice and thin: I am 68 kilos at 1 meter 88 - I have never been so thin before."
Of the 2007, when Rasmussen was removed from the race by his own team while in the yellow jersey, Dekker says nobody questions the race leader while he is in yellow.
"We ask Rasmussen nothing. Actually, we do have respect for him. He did it smart, like Boogerd, I think.
“He has devised a system for himself and apparently it works, because he is riding in the yellow jersey.
“Simple enough. Doping is everywhere. In our team, other teams. Dynepo, cortisone, blood bags, IV drips and sleeping pills - if you are surrounded by absurdity, you eventually think it is normal.”
Dekker also recounts a time he was bored one night after a stage and phoned up two prostitutes to help him pass the night away.
“Michael and I are a bit disappointed: they are a lot less beautiful than the pictures on the site,” he explained of the women who turn up at the team hotel.
It’s a sad portrayal of the sport and Dekker believes the directors must have known doping was going on but were as worried about their livelihoods as the riders themselves.
“The team doctors work nota bene solely for doping. I personally have never talked to De Rooij about doping, but I cannot imagine that he thinks Rasmussen was winning the Tour without doping. Is he stupid?
“The policy that he and Erik Breukink conduct is at best a kind of tolerance.
"They demand that we are well in competitions, but they do not know how. They do not ask so that they do not know exactly the facts.”
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