Ras blames personal issues

"At the end of March, I faced serious personal problems, in the area of relationships to be exact," Rasmussen told the Dutch daily De Telegraaf.

"I wanted to train without disturbances preparing for the Tour and not be confronted with this. That is why it was better that the world thought that I was in Mexico," Rasmussen was quoted as saying in an interview with the paper, which printed pictures of him in his Lake Garda home in Italy.

Rasmussen was sacked by Rabobank in July, four days before the Tour's end, after the team said he had lied about where he had been training. At the time, Rasmussen said he had been in Mexico, while the Dutch team said he was in Italy.

Last month, Rasmussen admitted he had lied about his training whereabouts in June but said he had never used doping.

The paper said Rasmussen would talk about Dynepo, a biosimilar, or copy, of the banned substance EPO, in a second article to be published on Sunday.

In September, the French Anti-Doping Agency said Rasmussen had tested "non-negative" for EPO during this year's Tour de France but the result of the analysis of Rasmussen's urine sample could not be declared positive for legal reasons.

Rasmussen declined to give details about his personal problems but told the paper he had disclosed them to the International Cycling Union and an independent inquiry, which concluded last month it was right to sack him.

Asked about the night he was expelled from the Tour and moved to a hotel, he told the paper: "Five hours after I stood on the stage, I was suddenly alone. My whole world had collapsed. I was lucky I could not find a rope in the room. Otherwise I would not have been here now."