Dekker rubbishes blood value claims

Rabobank's Thomas Dekker has rubbished claims by a Dutch newspaper he has irregular blood values. The promising young Dutchman said he is disappointed he needs to defended himself against unfounded reports by Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant that he has irregular blood values.

"I am not happy with this," he wrote on his website tdmagazine.nl. "Someone writes something and I have to defend myself. There is no truth in the [story] in De Volkskrant. I am disappointed in the state of affairs."

Rabobank has also confirmed that there is nothing abnormal about Dekker's blood values. "There is nothing wrong with my blood values; I have been able to ride my program, the Tour of Switzerland, the national championships and the Sachsen tour," he said. "That was not possible otherwise."

The UCI also backed up claims in a letter sent to Dekker. "I contacted the UCI and they sent me a letter stating that there is nothing abnormal with my blood values, I can take part in races as usual," he reiterated.

De Volkskrant also claimed that Dekker and Rabobank may split in the near future. Dekker also laid to rest those claims. "Plans have been in place for some time that together with the directors I would be talking to the team about my future," he said. "There is no talk of a split."