Tour leader sacked and out of race

By Julien Pretot

COL D'AUBISQUE, France (Reuters) - Tour de France overall leader Michael Rasmussen was sacked by his team Rabobank on Wednesday.

The Dane will not start Thursday's 17th stage of the race after his team said the rider had lied about his training whereabouts in June.

"He has violated the team's rules," a Rabobank spokesman said.

Rasmussen had already received two warnings from the UCI for failing to provide the sport's governing body with his personal schedule.

"I cannot comment on the matter now as I have not been notified by Rabobank," UCI president Pat McQuaid told Reuters over the telephone.

"I am just a little surprised that they did not discuss it with the UCI."

Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme told Reuters: "The important thing is not that he has been sacked by his team but that he will not be at the start of the stage tomorrow."

Rabobank is a Dutch bank and on Dutch TV a team spokesman was quoted as saying: "It is not known if the rest of the team will start on Thursday for the 17th stage."