Updated: Alex Rasmussen joins Garmin Cervelo after being cleared of charges over drug testing whereabouts

Former HTC-Highroad rider Alex Rasmussen has been cleared by Denmark's national Olympic committee of charges brought in connection with three infringements relating to out-of-competition drug testing and is free to ride in 2012. Following the news, Garmin Cervelo, the team he had been due to join for next season, included the Dane's name as it unveiled its roster for the coming year.

Rasmussen, aged 27, was sacked by HTC-Highroad during September’s Tour of Britain after it was revealed that he had committed a third infringement relating to his whereabouts, which enables testers to reach athletes to obtain samples.

While he was with Saxo Bank in 2010, Rasmussen missed two tests – one because he was racing in Berlin, when his whereabouts information said he should have been in Denmark, the second when he had returned home for his sister’s confirmation but not updated his details, which stated that he would be in Spain.

Then, in April this year, he was late submitting the required details of his whereabouts for the following quarter, required five days before the quarter in question begins. That omission constituted his third offence, which would ordinarily result in an athlete facing an automatic ban of up to two years.

Rasmussen has today been acquitted by DIF, the Danish national Olympic committee, because of a delay by world cycling’s governing body, the UCI, in notifying the cyclist that he committed that third whereabouts violation.

In  a statement, the president of the DIF doping tribunal, Torben Jessen, said that as a result, Rasmussen no longer had a case to answer because the UCI had waited ten weeks to notify the rider of the infraction, rather than within the 14 days required international standards.

A multiple world champion on the track – he has won rainbow jerseys in the Madison, scratch race and team pursuit – Rasmussen had been due to join Garmin-Cervelo for the 2012 season.

After he was suspended, the US-based outfit had stated he would not be joining, although subsequently it said that it would await developments. It has now been confirmed that he will be with the team next season.

Rasmussen’s suspension in September denied him the opportunity to take part in the UCI road world championships in his home country.

The UCI and the World Anti-doping Agency have the option of appealing today’s decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.