(USA TODAY) -- What's the French phrase for "doping debacle"? VICTORY BEFORE DEFEAT: Rasmussen wins stage before removal from Tour

Rasmussen, 33, had claimed to be in Mexico his wife is Mexican but was actually in Italy, working with an unidentified physician. The ruse was discovered when a former pro racer saw him training in the Italian Dolomites June 13 and 14 and gave that information to a Danish TV station on Wednesday.

Rasmussen missed four mandatory tests in the last 18 months and is also under investigation for shipping banned blood products in 2002.

"We did all we could do to get rid of him," Tour director Christian Prudhomme told Agence France-Presse.

Rasmussen wasn't the first rider to be ousted Wednesday. Italian Cristian Moreni, who was part of a riders' anti-doping protest at the start of Wednesday's stage, was taken into custody at the finish line because his urine sample from the July 19 stage tested positive for testosterone. He admitted his guilt, and his French Cofidis team left the race.

Prerace favorite Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan and his Astana team were expelled Tuesday after he tested positive for blood doping after his July 21 time trial win.

Yikes. Sad. I was really impressed with Rasmussen's poise throughout the Tour. Yesterday's stage win was truly impressive.

I break lines with a lot of my libertarian friends when it comes to doping. Though like any self-respecting libertarian, I think such drugs should be legal, I strongly support the bans imposed by the sports authorities governing the various sports. I notice that a lot of my libertarian friends disagree and support Barry Bonds and others accused of doping. But rules are rules boys. (As a libertarian I'm opposed to government not governance.*)

What I found really odd was how the Versus TV announcers made no mention yesterday of Vinokourov's ouster (ok I could have missed it but I watched almost the whole stage last night on tape). This after singing his praises for two weeks.

*It is a fair question to ask if the sports' bans on doping would continue if the state ended its jihad against drugs.