In his autobiography Yellow Fever, Michael Rasmussen alleges that the UCI covered up several suspect values during the 2005 Tour de France and points the fingers at chief scientific advisor Mario Zorzoli. Contacted by Spaziociclismo, the Italian denies the claims.

In his autobiography Yellow Fever, Michael Rasmussen has dragged both riders, team manager and doctors through the mud but the most worrying allegations are probably his claims that the UCI covered up suspect values during the 2005 Tour de France.

Last week it emerged that Rasmussen accuses UCI's medical advisor Mario Zorzoli of making an agreement with Rabobank doctor Geert Leinders to allow Rasmussen to continue in the race despite the Dane having abnormally low reticulocyte levels.  According to the UCI rules in place at the time, Rasmussen should have been taken out of the race.

Another allegation is related to his LH levels which suddenly rose from 4,9 to 81 following an injection which should help Rasmussen get ready for the challenging final stages. Rasmussen claims that Zorzoli entered his hotel room where Rabobank doctor Van Mantgem was also present, asking for an explanation of the suspect values.

According to Rasmussen, Zorzoli and Van Mantgem agreed not to take any immediate action but decided to make further tests after the race. Van Mantgem reportedly claims that "we did nothing" to which Zorzoli said: "Ok, but don't do it again."

Contacted by Spaziociclismo, Zorzoli denies any wrongdoing, claiming that he couldn't take action based on the evidence at hand.

"All I can say is that we can only sanction people if there is a positive doping test," he said." In fact, the LH levels could not be used to issue a "no start" sanctions."

Rasmussen's book was published on Monday. In addition to the accusations against the UCI, he claims that Saxo-Tinkoff owner Bjarne Riis knew all about his doping and accuses riders like Ryder Hesjedal, Nicki Sørensen and Frank Høj of doping.