Bjarne Lykkegård Riis (; born 3 April 1964), nicknamed ''The Eagle from Herning'' (), is a Danish former professional

road bicycle racer Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most com ...

who won the

1996 Tour de France The 1996 Tour de France was the 83rd edition of the Tour de France, starting on 29 June and ending on 21 July, featuring 19 regular stages, 2 individual time trials, a prologue and a rest day (10 July). It was won by Danish rider Bjarne Riis. Th ...

. For many years he was the owner and later manager of the

Oleg Tinkov Oleg Yuryevich Tinkov (, ) is a Russian-born former billionaire, entrepreneur and businessman. Tinkov is the founder of a network of shops of household appliances ''Technoshock'', frozen food factories ''Daria'', brewing companies and network of ...

associated Russian

UCI WorldTeam A UCI WorldTeam (2015–present), previously UCI ProTeam (2005–2014), is the term used by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to name a cycling team of the highest category in professional road bicycle racing, road cycling, the UCI World Tou ...

. Other career highlights include placing first in the Amstel Gold Race in 1997, multiple Danish National Championships, and stage wins in the

Giro d'Italia The Giro d'Italia (; ), also known simply as the Giro, is an annual stage race, multiple-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Italy, while also starting in, or passing through, other countries. The first race was organized in 19 ...

. On 25 May 2007, he admitted that he placed first in the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

using banned substances, and he was no longer considered the winner by the Tour's organizers. In July 2008, the Tour reconfirmed his victory but with an asterisk label to indicate his doping offences.

Career

Born in

Herning Herning () is a Denmark, Danish town in the Central Denmark Region of the Jutland peninsula. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Herning Municipality. Herning has a population of 51,782 (1 January 2025)

, Riis began cycling at local club

Herning CK Herning Cykle Klub (or Herning CK), founded in 1937, is an amateur road bicycle racing club, located in Herning, Denmark. A number of the best Danish professional riders, including 1996 Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis, come from Herning CK, a ...

. When he was not selected for the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

, former cyclist Kim Andersen advised Riis to start his professional career not in Italy, but in Luxembourg. His professional career started in 1986, his first result was a fifth-place finish in the GP Wallonie that year. Following a few years with no personal wins, he had yet to impress when his contract ran out in 1988. At the 1988 Tour of European Community race, while riding for the

Toshiba is a Japanese multinational electronics company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, elevators and escalators, electronic components, semiconductors ...

team, Riis and fellow Danish rider Kim Eriksen were contacted by the former Tour de France winner

Laurent Fignon Laurent Patrick Fignon (; 12 August 1960 – 31 August 2010) was a French professional road bicycle racer who won the Tour de France in 1983 and 1984, as well as the Giro d'Italia in 1989. He held the title of FICP World No. 1 in 1989. Fignon came ...

from the Système U team. Fignon was leading the Tour of European Community race, but he needed a few riders to help him secure the victory. In the hope of earning a contract with Système U, Riis helped Fignon achieve the victory and in December 1988 he moved to sports director

Cyrille Guimard Cyrille Guimard (born 20 January 1947) is a French former professional road racing cyclist who became a directeur sportif and television commentator. Three of his riders, Bernard Hinault, Laurent Fignon, and Lucien Van Impe, won the Tour de F ...

's Système U team as a support rider for Fignon. For the next three years Riis rode as Fignon's eternal helper in both flat and mountainous terrain, and they became close friends. Riis helped Fignon win the 1989 Giro d'Italia, while Riis himself won his first professional victory as he secured the 9th stage of the Giro.

Tour de France success

When Fignon left Guimard in 1992, Bjarne Riis contacted fellow Danish rider

Rolf Sørensen Rolf Sørensen (born 20 April 1965) is a former Danish professional road bicycle racer. He is currently working as a cycling commentator and agent. Born in Helsinge in Denmark, Sørensen moved to Italy at the age of 17, where he has lived sin ...

, who got him a job as a rider for Italian team Ariostea under sporting director Giancarlo Ferretti. Riis won

stage 7 ''Stage 7'' is a 30-minute American TV drama anthology series that was broadcast on CBS from December 12, 1954, through September 25, 1955. This program premiered in December 1954 with the title ''Your Favorite Playhouse'' with all episodes being ...

of the

1993 Tour de France The 1993 Tour de France was the 80th edition of the Tour de France, taking place between July 3-25, 1993. It consisted of 20 stages, over a distance of . The winner of the previous two years, Miguel Induráin, successfully defended his title. Th ...

and also wore the polka dot jersey as leader of the mountains classification for a day. He finished 5th place overall, which was the best Danish result in Tour history at the time, bettering former World Champion Leif Mortensen's 6th-place finish in the 1971 Tour de France. Riis was ill during the 1994 Tour de France but went on a break-away and then racing solo for the last 30 km of the day. With the sprinter teams chasing him, he placed first on the stage by just a few seconds. Riis finished 3rd at the 1995 Tour de France, the first Dane to reach the podium in Paris. Bjarne-riis-of-denmark-leads-the-pack-in-climb-of-hautacam-followed-by-spain-s-miguel-indurain-fran 2488988

Bjarne-riis-of-denmark-leads-the-pack-in-climb-of-hautacam-followed-by-spain-s-miguel-indurain-fran 2488988

For the 1996 season, Riis was brought on to the Telekom team as team captain. Following his excellent showing in the high climbs of the 1995 Tour, Riis was confident that he was capable of winning. He asked his new teammates to support him, and convinced them that if they worked for him he could bring the yellow jersey to Team Telekom. By the start of the Tour he was in superb condition, winning the Danish

Road Racing Road racing is a North American term to describe motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held on a race track, closed circuit—generally, a purpose-built racing facility—or on a street circuit that uses temporarily c ...

Championship the week before the prologue. As a result of snow on both the Col de l'Iseran and the

Col du Galibier The Col du Galibier (el. ) is a mountain pass in the southern region of the France, French Dauphiné Alps near Grenoble. It is the eighth List of highest paved roads in Europe, highest paved road in the Alps, and recurrently the List of highe ...

, the scheduled 190 km stage 9 from

Val-d'Isère Val-d'Isère (, literally ''Valley of Isère (river), Isère'') is a Communes of France, commune of the Tarentaise Valley, in the Savoie Departments of France, department (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region) in southeastern France. It ...

Sestriere Sestriere (, , , ) is a ski resort in Piedmont, Italy, a ''comune'' (municipality) of the Metropolitan City of Turin. It is situated in Val Susa, from the France, French border. Its name derives from Latin language, Latin: ''ad petram sistrariam ...

in Italy was truncated and reduced to a 46 km sprint from Le-Monetier-les-Bains which was claimed by Riis, opening a 44-second gap over his teammate

Jan Ullrich Jan Ullrich (; born 2 December 1973) is a German former professional road bicycle racer. Ullrich won gold and silver medals in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, Sydney. He won the 1999 Vuelta a España and the HEW Cyclassics in fro ...

. By the Tour's end Riis had placed first in the General classification, with a lead of 1:41 over his young teammate Ullrich. In so doing he ended the string of five successive victories won by Tour great

Miguel Indurain --> Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to: Places * Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands * São Miguel (disam ...

. The win by Riis was instrumental in turning Telekom from a second tier cycling team which struggled just to be invited into the 1995 Tour, into one of the biggest teams in road racing. It also had a huge positive effect on the development of cycling in both Denmark and Germany, massively increasing spectator interest and participation in the sport as well. In 1997, he placed first in the spring classic Amstel Gold Race, with a great effort, riding solo from a long way out, in pouring rain. Bjarne Riis was the favourite at the

1997 Tour de France The 1997 Tour de France was the 84th edition of the Tour de France and took place from 5 to 27 July. Jan Ullrich's victory margin of 9:09 was the largest margin of victory since Laurent Fignon won the 1984 Tour de France by 10:32. Since 1997 no r ...

, but instead it was his young German teammate

, who won the overall competition, with Riis finishing 7th. On his way to the startup at stage 2 of the 1999 Tour de Suisse, Bjarne Riis hit the curb and crashed. The sustained injuries to his elbow and knee ultimately forced him to retire in the spring of 2000 at the age of 36.

Doping allegations

In the aftermath of the

performance-enhancing drugs Performance-enhancing substances (PESs), also known as performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), are substances that are used to improve any form of activity performance in humans. Many substances, such as anabolic steroids, can be used to improve at ...

crisis in cycling following the

1998 Tour de France The 1998 Tour de France was the 85th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours. The race was composed of 21 stages and a prologue. It started on 11 July in Ireland before taking an anti-clockwise route t ...

, Riis acquired the nickname of Mr. 60%, a suggestion that he has used doping. The 60% is an allusion to a high

hematocrit The hematocrit () (Ht or HCT), also known by several other names, is the volume percentage (vol%) of red blood cells (RBCs) in blood, measured as part of a blood test. The measurement depends on the number and size of red blood cells. It is nor ...

(red blood cell) level, an indication of EPO usage. It has been published, but never proven, that Riis had a hematocrit level of 56% during one test in July 1995; well above typical natural levels, as well as his published reading of 41% in the offseason earlier that year. The earliest mention of the nickname can be traced to interviews with riders of

Festina image:Festina F16184 4.jpg, Festina F16184 Festina is a Spanish watch conglomerate. In 1985, businessman Miguel Rodríguez acquired Festina, a brand founded in Switzerland in 1902, thus forming the ''Festina-Lotus Group.'' History Festina w ...

in 1998–2000, who apparently suggested that if they had been doped above 50%, then Riis must have been doped to at least 60%, since he was able to win the Tour de France in 1996 ahead of the Festina rider Richard Virenque: in Willy Voet's book Breaking the Chain, he mentions that Festina's team doctor would not allow EPO to be administered if a rider's hematocrit level was near 55%. Bjarne Riis never tested positive as a rider, though no EPO test existed at that time. Reports have noted, however, that police in Italy found evidence that Riis may have been among riders treated with EPO in 1994 and 1995 by medical researchers under Professor Francesco Conconi at the

University of Ferrara The University of Ferrara () is the main university of the city of Ferrara in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. In the years prior to the First World War the University of Ferrara, with more than 500 students, was the best attended of ...

, which resulted in prosecutions against Conconi and also involved Michele Ferrari. Files used in the court case apparently showed fluctuations in Riis' hematocrit from 41% to 56.3%. Speculations about Bjarne Riis's doping use was further fuelled by his ambiguous denials. When asked whether he used doping he repeatedly stated that "I have never tested positive," a statement that falls short of an outright denial.

Admission

At the end of April 2007, former Riis' soigneur Jeff d'Hont wrote a book about the doping practices of Riis and other riders during his time in the cycling business. On 21 May 2007, Riis' former Telekom teammate Bert Dietz admitted that he had used doping during his Telekom-time. This prompted other former teammates, Christian Henn and Udo Bölts, and two former team doctors, to admit their involvement in doping. On 24 May, three other teammates Rolf Aldag,

Erik Zabel Erik Zabel (; born 7 July 1970) is a German former professional road bicycle racer who raced for most of his career with Team Telekom. With 152 professional wins and 211 wins in his career, he is considered by some to be one of the greatest Germ ...

and Brian Holm confessed. Following this series of confessions, on 25 May 2007 Riis issued a press release that he also had made "mistakes" in the past, and in the following press conference confessed to taking EPO,

growth hormone Growth hormone (GH) or somatotropin, also known as human growth hormone (hGH or HGH) in its human form, is a peptide hormone that stimulates growth, cell reproduction, and cell regeneration in humans and other animals. It is thus important in ...

and

cortisone Cortisone is a pregnene (21-carbon) steroid hormone. It is a naturally-occurring corticosteroid metabolite that is also used as a pharmaceutical prodrug. Cortisol is converted by the action of the enzyme corticosteroid 11-beta-dehydrogenase ...

for 6 years, from 1993 to 1998, including during his victory in the

. Riis said that he bought and injected the EPO himself, and team coach Walter Godefroot turned a blind eye to the drug use on the team. He denied a passage of Jeff d'Hont's book, where it is related that his hematocrit level was once tested by the team and registered 64%. He said if someone wanted to take his yellow jersey they could do so, it meant nothing to him. Riis was removed from the official record books of Tour de France, but in July 2008 he was written back into the books, along with additional notes about his use of doping. The reactions on Riis's admission have been mixed. Some critics have called him a cheater, and that the results he achieved in his career were worthless. Others have labelled him as a victim of the doping culture that was rampant in professional road cycling, and have insisted that he should not be scapegoated for a wider problem. In November 2010 Riis published a book about his career as a rider, emphasizing that doping throughout the time he had competed was not considered by the peloton as "cheat", but simply as a part of the "normal preparation" for a professional rider. He described he had started to dope only with corticosteroids in the 80s, and then as he previously had confessed upgraded his doping with EPO in 1993–98. Riis states the last time he doped as a rider was in July 1998. He states he quit during the

when he was nearly caught by the police. As part of the probe into the Festina doping scandal, police were on their way to search the rooms of his Telekom teammates. Riis offered the following comment on the episode: “In my room I didn’t have a choice. My vials of doping products had to disappear quickly. In just a few minutes I gathered all my doses of EPO and threw them down the toilet”.

Team manager

Following his retirement, a new life opened up. Bjarne Riis had from the start been one of the people behind Danish cycling team , which became the first Danish team competing in the Tour de France. Following doping allegations and suspension of Home-Jack & Jones rider

Marc Streel Marc Streel (born 12 August 1971) is a Belgian former racing cyclist. Major results ;1993 :2nd Overall Tour de Liège ;1994 :3rd Duo Normand (with Peter Verbeken) ;1996 :1st Flèche Hesbignonne :1st Stage 3 Tour de Picardie :2nd Boucle de l'Arto ...

in 1999, Home withdrew its sponsorship. Bjarne Riis bought the majority of the team through its controlling company ''Professional Cycling Denmark'' (PCD), and he became the team manager. In 2001, the team changed sponsor to CSC/World Online, then CSC/Tiscali, and in the seasons 2003 to 2007 the American IT company CSC was the sole sponsor of

Team CSC Tinkoff () was a Russian-registered professional cycling team from Russia and previously Denmark. It competed in the UCI World Tour. The team was owned by former Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis from 2000 until 2013 and Russian banker Oleg T ...

. In season 2008 CSC shared the sponsorship with the Danish bank

Saxo Bank Saxo Bank is a Danish investment bank specializing in online trading and investment. Established in 1992 as a brokerage firm under the name ''Midas Fondsmæglerselskab'' (English: ''Midas Stockbroker Company'') by Lars Seier Christensen and Ki ...

which as of season 2009 has been the sole team sponsor. The team later got the name Team Saxo Bank Sungard and is now known as Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank. Riis renamed PCD to ''Riis Cycling A/S'' in 2003. Before the 2005 season, Team CSC had financial problems and some of the riders were asked to take a wage cut. Riis used his own money to keep the team running throughout his first years as team manager, an expenditure he later vowed never to repeat when a new sponsor deal was signed during the

2005 Tour de France The 2005 Tour de France was the 92nd edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours. It took place between 2–24 July, with 21 stages covering a distance . It has no overall winner—although American cyclist ...

. As a team manager, his team has been involved in some doping cases, with no rider being convicted for using doping while on his team. However, in Tyler Hamilton's book, "The Secret Race," is described how Riis actively encouraged the use of doping on the CSC team. Also, Ivan Basso, who was Team CSC's 2006 Tour de France general classification contender was removed from the team prior to the beginning of the Tour according to the UCI ProTour rules due to his possible involvement in the Operación Puerto doping case, an involvement confirmed by Basso himself in April 2007. Basso's contract with Team CSC has since ended. The story of team CSC during the 2004 Tour de France has been captured in a documentary titled "Overcoming". His best results as a manager in Grand Tours were winning the

2006 Giro d'Italia The 2006 Giro d'Italia was the 89th edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It began in the Belgian city of Seraing with a individual time trial. The race came to a close with a mass-start road stage that stretched from ...

with Ivan Basso, the

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and 2010 Tour de France with Carlos Sastre and Andy Schleck respectively, and the

2012 Vuelta a España 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, Numeral (linguistics), numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest Positive number, positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in o ...

with Alberto Contador. In December 2013 it was confirmed that team sponsor

had bought the team from Riis, for a reported sum of approximately €6 million, with Riis continuing as team manager on a three-year deal worth €1 million per year. Tinkov had previously criticised Riis and Contador for their performances during 2013 via social media. In March 2015 the team confirmed that Riis had been removed from active duty due to differences between Riis and Tinkov. Media reports had initially indicated that Riis had been suspended when he did not appear at the 2015 Milan–San Remo as planned, and that this was due to a disappointing start to the season for the team. On 29 March, it was announced that Riis had been released by the team. News reports cited the "tumultuous relationship" and "difference in character" between Riis and Tinkov as the reason for Riis's departure. In July 2016 Riis and former

CEO Lars Seier announced that they had taken over the Danish

UCI Continental The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...

team and renamed it , with the intention of it functioning as the development team for a planned

. In January 2020 Riis was appointed as manager of the NTT Pro Cycling team.

Career achievements

Major results

;1984 : 2nd Overall Flèche du Sud ::1st Stages 1 & 2 ;1986 : 5th Grand Prix de Wallonie ;1988 : 8th Grand Prix de Wallonie ;1989 : 1st Stage 9

: 1st Stage 2 Tour de l'Avenir : 1st Stage 2 ( TTT)

: 2nd Grand Prix de la Libération ;1990 : Tour de l'Avenir ::1st Stages 7 & 9 : 6th Overall

Tour de Luxembourg The Tour de Luxembourg is an annual stage race in professional road bicycle racing held in Luxembourg. The Tour de Luxembourg is classified as a UCI race classifications, 2.Pro race, the highest rating below the UCI World Tour, World Tour, by the ...

: 10th

Grand Prix d'Isbergues Grand Prix d'Isbergues is a professional cycle road race held in Isbergues, Pas-de-Calais The Pas-de-Calais (, ' strait of Calais'; ; ) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which ...

;1991 : 6th Road race,

UCI Road World Championships The UCI Road World Championships are the annual world championships for bicycle road racing organized by the (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships consist of events for road race and individual time trial, and , a UCI Road World Championships ...

;1992 : 1st MaillotDinamarca

Road race, National Road Championships : 4th

Paris–Brussels The Brussels Cycling Classic (known until June 2013 as Paris–Brussels) is a semi classic European bicycle race, one of the oldest races on the international calendar. History Paris–Brussels was first run on 12 August 1893 as an amateur eve ...

: 8th Giro della Romagna ;1993 : 1st Stage 7

: 5th Overall

::1st Stage 7 : 9th Road race,

: 9th Omloop van de Vlaamse Scheldeboorden : 9th Grand Prix Eddy Merckx ;1994 : 1st Stage 13

: 2nd GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano : 5th

Züri-Metzgete Züri-Metzgete (Zürich German; ; ) was a European Classic cycle races, Classic cycle race held annually in Zürich, Switzerland, and continued as a non-professional mass participation event from 2007 until 2014. It was a race with a long history ...

: 6th Overall Ronde van Nederland : 6th Giro del Veneto : 6th Milano–Vignola : 7th

Giro di Lombardia The Giro di Lombardia (), officially ''Il Lombardia'', is a cycling race in Lombardy, Italy. It is traditionally the last of the five 'Cycling monument, Monuments' of the season, considered to be one of the most prestigious one-day events in cycli ...

: 7th Giro dell'Emilia : 7th Grand Prix Eddy Merckx : 9th Road race,

;1995 : 1st MaillotDinamarca

Road race, National Road Championships : 1st Overall Danmark Rundt ::1st Stage 3b ( ITT) : 2nd Circuit de l'Aulne : 3rd Overall

::1st Stage 3 ( TTT) : 5th Grand Prix Eddy Merckx ;1996 : National Road Championships ::1st MaillotDinamarca

Road race ::1st MaillotDinamarca

Time trial In many racing sports, an sportsperson, athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial (TT) against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athle ...

: 1st

Overall

::1st Stages 9 & 16 : 1st Coppa Sabatini : 1st

GP Herning Grand Prix Herning is a one-day road bicycle race held in Midtjylland, Denmark. The race is organised by Herning Bicycle Club with both start and goal in Herning. The race is characterised by its gravel paths, which result in multiple punctur ...

: 2nd Grand Prix des Nations : 3rd Overall Danmark Rundt : 3rd

Grand Prix of Aargau Canton Grand Prix of Aargau Canton () is a semi classic European bicycle race held in Aargau canton, one of the more northerly cantons of Switzerland. The race consists of fifteen laps around the Swiss town of Gippingen, which belongs to the municipa ...

: 3rd Giro dell'Emilia : 3rd Telekom Grand Prix (with

) : 4th Rund um den Henninger-Turm : 5th Overall Grand Prix du Midi Libre : 6th Classique des Alpes : 9th Grand Prix Eddy Merckx : 10th Road race,

;1997 : 1st Amstel Gold Race : 1st

: 1st Colliers Classic : 1st Stage 4a Grand Prix Guillaume Tell : 2nd

, National Road Championships : 2nd Rund um den Henninger-Turm : 4th Overall Danmark Rundt : 5th Overall

Euskal Bizikleta Euskal Bizikleta (Spanish: ''Bicicleta Vasca'', English: ''Basque Bicycle'') was an annual road cycling stage race held in the Basque Country in June. From 2005 to 2008, the race was organized as a 2.HC event on the UCI Europe Tour. In 2009, it ...

: 7th Overall

: 7th

: 10th Grand Prix de Wallonie ;1998 : 1st

: 1st Stage 5

: 5th Overall Peace Race

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

References

External links

Riis Cycling

Riijs' role in cycling
*
Bjarne Riis' profile on Cycling Base
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riis, Bjarne Danish male cyclists Tour de France winners Danish Tour de France stage winners Danish sportspeople in doping cases Doping cases in cycling Cyclists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists for Denmark Danish Giro d'Italia stage winners 1964 births Living people Danmark Rundt winners Sportspeople from Herning Municipality Tinkoff (cycling team) Cyclists from the Central Denmark Region 20th-century Danish sportsmen