Alex Rasmussen fired for missing doping controls

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HTC-Highroad has terminated Alex Rasmussen's contract after the team was informed that the Danish rider had missed an out of competition anti-doping test, thus violating the team's code of conduct. His racing licence has been suspended by the Danish Cycling Union, which said that he will be placed under investigation. He has been removed from the world championships team.

The team said that it was notified by the International Cycling Union, the Danish national Olympic committee and the Sports Confederation of Denmark of a confirmed missed test.  “The team was also notified that Rasmussen had missed two tests in 2010 prior to joining HTC-Highroad that had not been previously reported the fact to the team."

"Mr. Rasmussen missed a test and additionally did not inform the team. These are clear violations of the team's code of conduct. We act on these violations immediately," said Team Manager Rolf Aldag in a statement.

According to the Danish federation, Rasmussen was suspended because he has missed three doping controls over the past 18 months and had received two warnings form Anti Doping Denmark and one from the UCI.

Rasmussen had been selected for the Danish world championship team but now will not participate on home roads next week. The final Danish team will be announced later today.

Rasmussen, 27, rode for Saxo Bank-SunGard in 2009 and 2010 before joining HTC-Highroad this season.  He had signed a contract with Garmin for 2012. Rasmussen won the Philadelphia International Championship in June after riding well at the Giro d'Italia.

Rasmussen is currently riding the Tour of Britain alongside Mark Cavendish but is expected to leave the race.