Niermann on the chaos

"For two weeks we gave everything we had, every single day, for the yellow jersey and now we are standing there with nothing," said Rabobank's Grischa Niermann on the removal of Michael Rasmussen from the Tour. "Looking back, it must be admitted that it would have been better not to have let him start, because now the chaos is bigger than ever."

Writing on his website, grischa-niermann.de, he said that "The only thing that motivates me to continue on to Paris is the fact that baby Luca with his big brother Finn and their Mama will be at the Champs Elysées, in order to pick up Papa."

"In the last two weeks I have experienced the best and worst moments of my career and I am pretty much at the end of my rope. That's why you won't hear any criticism of Michael Rasmussen from me. He surely didn't behave properly and made mistakes. But he is the only one who knows the truth about the accusations against him."