Defiant Rasmussen vows to ride on

The Dane was leading the Tour when he was sacked and withdrawn from the race by his Rabobank team on Wednesday.

"I have now had time to collect my thoughts and I can guarantee that I am not done as a rider," the 33-year-old told Danish newspaper Politiken.

"I feel I've won the Tour de France... but victory has been stolen from me."

Dutch team Rabobank justified their actions by saying Rasmussen had lied when he said he had been in Mexico rather than Italy for one of the four dope tests he missed in the past 18 months.

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Rasmussen again denied that he had lied, insisting that he had been in Mexico.

"I know very well that I was late with information about my whereabouts," he added.

"For that I have been punished with a fine and warnings. But that it should lead to such drastic (measures) which have been taken, is out of all proportion."

Rasmussen also hit out at the way he was dismissed by Rabobank manager Theo de Rooij.

"I was kicked out of the hotel like an animal," Rasmussen told the Berlingske Tidende newspaper.

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