Yesterday Oscar Freire was dragged through the mud for several hours when Michael Rasmussen's claim that the Spaniard had doped during the 2007 Tour de France, were published by several media. The former world champion reacted angrily and successfully asked Rasmussen to retract his claims and now blames the media for their complicity in the damage.

Last Sunday, Michael Rasmussen participated in a chat after an interview with Danish broadcaster DR and was asked how many riders in the peloton were doped when he rode the 2007 Tour de France. While he refused to answer the question, he claimed that the entire 9-rider Rabobank team was doping.

One of the riders who rode the race for the Dutch team, was Oscar Freire who could only watch while his name was associated to doping in several media all over the world. Having not been contacted by any media at all, the Spaniard was left defenceless while his reputation was being tainted.

He reacted angrily by calling Rasmussen and asked him to retract his claims. The Dane admitted that he had never seen neither Freire nor fellow Spaniard Juan Antonio Flecha doping and apologized for his accusations.

"Logically, I called him and asked him to retract his claims and apologize,"" Freire told Cadena Ser. "He replied that he had not mentioned Flecha's or my names. I told him that I had of course been indirectly named when he said that 100% of the team doped. He told me that he agreed with me and said that he would apologize if I asked him to do so."

While Rasmussen's careless statements were of course to blame for the unfortunate affair, Freire also points his finger at the media.

"The damage it has done, it is clear, but I also have to blame the media a bit because no one called me to let me deny the allegations," he said. "Even if he didn't name me, they quickly put my name on the list and suddenly it was all over the headlines. I didn't like it as I have always had a nice relationship with the press. I have never had any problems with doping."

Freire ended his career in 2012.