In Mondays edition of Dutch daily newspaper 'De Volkskrant' the paper said that Dekker and Rabobank will part ways because of a lack of trust after the UCI had informed the team that Dekker had delivered differences in his blood parameters. Dekker and Rabobanks team manager Harold Knebel denied that Dekker will leave Rabobank because of irregularities in his blood parameters. Knebel and the 23 year old rider also said that Dekker has a contract until 2009.

But its not likely that Dekker will stay until 2009. Dekker was removed from Rabobanks Tour de France roster but according to Knebel this had nothing to do with Dekkers blood parameters. Knebel told sportwereld.nl: "This has nothing to do with the difficult relationship we have with Dekker at the moment, and it also has nothing to do with his absence in the Tour or at the Olympic Games."

Knebel continued: "As we received the news that something was wrong with his blood last month, just before the Tour de Suisse, we immediately asked for more information. The Italian doctor of the UCI medical commission, Zorzoli, confirmed to us that there was an anomaly that they could not comprehend. But he immediately added that there was no reason to suspend Thomas. Afterwards there was contact with the UCI on several occassions because we hoped there would be more facts." 

Knebel added: "Until now that's not the case. He [Dekker, editor] also is on no list with riders from whomm the blood values are suspect. The UCI affirmed this to us. That's why Dekker could start in the Sachsentour last week. That we waited so long with the announcement of his participation in the race had everything to do with the allowence of the UCI which we wanted to have from the UCI."

Knebel continued saying: "Believe me that I will take action immediately if we find out that there is something wrong. But as long as there is something for which there is no evidence, I can hardly accuse people of something and damage them. I am somebody for whom clarity is more important than anything else, but I also want to play fair. When I have so little as I have so far, I won't come out publicly with it. You can understand that, dont you? Everybody knows that if I would do that one minute later the rider would be suspected of taking doping. And there is absolutely no evidence for that." 

Thomas Dekker started at a criterium in Boxmeer (Netherlands) last night. Dekker told Dutch tv station N.O.S. that :"there is a lack of trust from both sides." Dekker also said that he had two out of competition tests and that there differences in his blood values. "But that is not unusual." Dekker confirmed that he received a letter from the UCI that he is allowed to race.

Knebel told sportwereld.nl that what bathers him most is that Dekker did not sign the so-called 'riders consensus', which allows the teams to look into medical dossiers of their riders. The declaration was introduced by the UCI at the beginning of the year. According to Knebel the team "asked 2 or 3 times a week" to Dekker to sign it. Dekker responded in Dutch daily news 'De Telegraaf' saying he signed the declaration months ago in an e-mail to UCI representavive Anne Gripper and that he had send Harold Knebel a copy of the e-mail.

De Telegraaf also reports that four teams openly showed interest to sign Dekker: Garmin-Chipotle, Team Columbia, Astana and CSC-Saxo Bank. Dekker told the Dutch newspaper: "I still have no clarity from Rabobank, but I know that they want to talk with me after the Tour. I will wait for these talks before I will look to other teams."

Earlier this month sportwereld.nl published a story in which the Dutch website claimed that Rabobank's sports director Erik Dekker ordered that new parts on Thomas Dekker's bike for the Sachsentour should be given to Robert Gesink. Thomas Dekker was surprised as he saw that he had old parts on his bike. A mechanic of the Rabobank team confirmed the story about the bike parts.