COPENHAGEN (AFP) - Denmark's Michael Rasmussen has confessed to lying about his whereabouts prior to this year's Tour de France, but says his former team, Rabobank, knew he was not in Mexico as he had claimed.

Rasmussen, a former two-time winner of the race's polka dot jersey for the best climber, was pulled out of the race by Rabobank while wearing the fabled yellow jersey due to major doping suspicions arousing from revelations that he had missed several random doping controls.

Rasmussen said Thursday he lied over his whereabouts - having insisted he was in Mexico when anti-doping controllers failed to find him in Europe to carry out random tests - due to personal reasons.

But he gave little else away.

"I lied to protect my private life," Rasmussen said. "The problems were marital in nature. I won't go into depth about them, and I would ask the press to respect that decision."

International Cycling Union rules (UCI) state that cyclists makes themselves available for doping controls at all times, and Rasmussen became a suspect after it was revealed he had missed four random tests by different bodies in the 18 months prior to the race.

His Dutch team at first gave him their full support, but under pressure from race organisers, and fans - many of whom staged a protest at the Dane's continued presence - Rabobank bowed to the pressure and pulled him out.

Rasmussen said Thursday he was able to prove that Rabobank knew where he was the entire time, that he was in contact with team officials, and that he had received money from the team to travel in France during the period.

"I was never in Mexico, and Rabobank knew it," said Rasmussen, who has never tested positive for a banned substance.

While wearing the yellow jersey, Rasmussen became a pariah as he defied the suspicions with extraordinary displays of climbing in the race's high mountains.

It soon led irate organisers to demand that Rabobank pull him out to protect the race's credibility. After they did so, Rasmussen was fired by Rabobank and he is now seeking compensation from the team for breach of contract.

Rabobank are due to publish an internal report on the episode on November 12, prompting Rasmussen to give his side of the story on Thursday.

But despite the existing suspicion, Rasmussen has denied ever taking banned substances.

"I have never taken (the banned blood-booster) EPO (erythropoietin) at any point during my career," he said.

On Wednesay another Dane, former professional Bo Hamburger, launched a book in which he admitted using EPO between 1995 and 1997.

Earlier this year Denmark's 1996 Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis also confessed to using EPO.