Michael Rasmussen (born 1 June 1974) is a retired Danish professional cyclist who competed in road racing and mountain biking.

At a press conference on 31 January 2013, Rasmussen admitted that he had used performance-enhancing drugs and methods, including EPO, growth hormones, insulin, testosterone, DHEA, IGF-1, Oxyglobin, cortisone and blood doping, for most of his professional career.

There he secured a one-year contract for 2002, and following a string of good results in August and September, including his first professional win, he switched from CSC-Tiscali to Rabobank in 2003.

His first Tour de France was in 2004, in which he failed to get any stage wins but was third in the mountains classification, which was won by Richard Virenque.

At the 2005 Tour de France his training paid off when he took the polka dot jersey as leader of the mountains classification on stage eight.

After his first fall, he lost confidence and his ability to descend at speed, according to Rabobank's sports director Erik Breukink.

On Stage 16 he broke away after 4 km and took the Souvenir Henri Desgrange on the Col du Galibier (2645 m), winning 5000 euros.

In Paris he wore the polka dot jersey as leader of the mountains classification while holding his newly born child, who was in a polka-dot shirt and cap.

[6] Rasmussen was the center of controversy while wearing the yellow jersey in the 2007 Tour de France, when it was announced that he had been suspended from the Danish national cycling team at UCI World Championships and Olympic Games following missed doping controls.

[7] Rasmussen failed to report his whereabouts for a three-week training session in Mexico and was unavailable for testing during that period; for that he received a recorded warning from the UCI.

Richards alleged that the box contained packets of Hemopure, a bovine-hemoglobin-based blood substitute which is not currently approved for human use outside South Africa and did not become commercially available there until January 2006, and which might potentially have been used in a doping program.

[20] Rabobank backed the decision to withdraw Rasmussen but reconfirmed its commitment as a sponsor in cycling,[21] at least at the local level.

[22] On 17 December 2007, the Dutch law firm BrantjesVeerman confirmed Rasmussen had hired it to fight his dismissal from Rabobank.

[25] Rasmussen's suspension expired on 25 July 2009, and he took part in the Designa Grand Prix in Kjellerup, Denmark two days later, finishing in second place.

Later that season, he won the opening stage, a time trial, and was race leader for three days,[26] in the Mexico's Vuelta a Chihuahua, as a member of Team Tecos Trek.