Rasmussen - AP

MILAN, Italy (AP):

Michael Rasmussen is in talks with an Italian team and is hoping to start cycling again, about a month after he was ousted from the Tour de France.

Rasmussen met for half an hour with Acqua and Sapone team director Palmiro Masciarelli on Wednesday.

"He wants to finish the season with us," Masciarelli told The Associated Press yesterday. "He showed me all his papers. The problem is with the Danish federation."

Rasmussen, a 33-year-old Dane, was kicked out of this year's Tour - while leading the race - by his Dutch team, Rabobank, for allegedly lying about his whereabouts to evade doping tests. Rasmussen has denied those accusations.

"I'm the victim of a great injustice and my lawyers are working to take care of me," Rasmussen was quoted as saying in yesterday's Gazzetta dello Sport. "My goal is to find a team because I would like to have a great Giro di Lombardia."

The Giro di Lombardia, the final single-day classic of the cycling season, is scheduled for October 20.

Rasmussen allegedly missed two tests and Masciarelli indicated that he shouldn't have been penalised until he missed a third.

"I don't think kicking him out of the Tour was the right thing to do," Masciarelli said. "The confusion surrounding this case is enormous."

Masciarelli added that his team could make a decision regarding Rasmussen by Monday or Tuesday.

"I'm an available rider that can start racing even tomorrow," Rasmussen told the Gazzetta.

In a brief telephone interview, Rasmussen told Denmark's TV2 News channel: "I can neither confirm or deny.