Daniel ("Danny") Wilhelmus Maria Nelissen (born 10 November 1970 in

Sittard Sittard (; ) is a city in the Netherlands, situated in the southernmost province of Limburg. The town is part of the municipality of Sittard-Geleen and has almost 37,500 inhabitants in 2016. In its east, Sittard borders the German municipal ...

, Netherlands) is a Dutch 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 ...

and former

sports commentator In Broadcasting of sports events, sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real time (media), real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present t ...

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia, owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its WBD Sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...

. He won the 1995 amateur world championship and was named ''

Dutch Sportsman of the year The Dutch Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year are chosen annually by Dutch athletes from a shortlist compiled by sports journalists. The elections are organized by the Dutch Olympic Committee. All the winners receive a Jaap Eden Award to re ...

''. He was the nephew of cycling commentator Jean Nelissen. He started his professional career in 1990 with PDM, for which he won his first professional race, the

Grand Prix de Wallonie The Grand Prix de Wallonie is an annual road bicycle race held annually in Wallonia, Belgium. From 2005 to 2019 it was organised as a category 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. In 2021, it joined the UCI ProSeries, after being cancelled in 2020. ...

, in 1992. In 1994, while riding for the Dutch

TVM TVM stands for: Television stations * Television Malta * Television Maldives * Television of Mauritania * TVMonaco * Televisão de Moçambique Arts and entertainment * ''Doctor Who'' (film), referred to by fans as the "TV movie" * "TVM", a song ...

team, he developed heart rhythm impairments and returned to ride at amateur level. The following year in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

he won the amateur world championship. He was the last amateur world champion, the

UCI UCI most commonly refers to: * University of California, Irvine, a public university in Irvine, California, United States * Union Cycliste Internationale, the world governing body for the sport of cycling UCI may also refer to: * Uganda Cancer In ...

replacing the race with a youth competition in 1996. The triumph lead to Nelissen being voted as 1995 ''Dutch Sportsman of the year''. According to Nelissen, his use of a power meter was key to his win: he claimed that he was one of the few riders "(who) had them and knew what they could do" at that time, alongside

Greg LeMond Gregory James LeMond (born June 26, 1961) is an American former Road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist. He won the Tour de France thrice and the UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race, Road Race World Championship twice, becoming t ...

and

Jonathan Vaughters Jonathan James Vaughters (born June 10, 1973) is an American former professional racing cyclist and current manager of UCI WorldTeam . Racing career Vaughters started competitive cycling in the 1980s, racing in the Red Zinger Mini Classics yo ...

. All three riders shared the same coach, Adrie Van Diemen. He prepared for the race by tackling the hardest climb on the finishing circuit in a variety of ways to find the tactic which would enable him to complete the climb fastest, settling on riding it at a steady tempo. During the race he was able to use this tactic to catch up to the other riders in the winning break after being dropped by them at the start of the climb. He made his winning break just over a lap from the finish, attacking on a descent and soloing to the finish. He was brought into the

Rabobank Rabobank (; full name: ''Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A.'') is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Utrecht, Netherlands. The group comprises 89 local Dutch Rabobanks (2019), a central organisation (Raboban ...

team for two years under manager

Jan Raas Jan Raas (born 8 November 1952) is a Dutch former professional cyclist whose 115 wins include the 1979 World Road Race Championship in Valkenburg, the Tour of Flanders in 1979 and 1983, Paris–Roubaix in 1982 and Milan–San Remo in 1977. He w ...

. In 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 ...

, he wore the polka dot jersey as leader of the

mountains classification The King of the Mountains (KoM) is an award given to the best climbing specialist in a men's cycling road race; in women's cycle racing, Queen of the Mountains (QoM) is used. While the title may be given to the rider who achieves the highest p ...

for a couple of days. Before 1998, he joined the Danish team, ''Team Home – Jack & Jones'' (later named

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 January 1999, further heart problems brought his retirement at 28. He is currently the production manager of Dutch Eurosport. Danny Nelissen was the first Dutch road bicycle racer to admit the use of doping during the years 1996 and 1997.Jules Seegers: Nelissen bekent als eerste Raborenner dopinggebruik in ’96
(Nelissen confesses use of doping in '96 as a member of the RaboBank team) Source: (Website)

NRC Handelsblad ''NRC'', previously called ' (), is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by Mediahuis NRC. It is widely regarded as a newspaper of record in the country. History was first published on 1 October 1970 after a merger of the Amst ...

, 19 Jan. 2013 He repeated his confession on Dutch television (

RTL7 RTL 7 is a Dutch free-to-cable television channel that was launched as ''Veronica'' on 1 September 1995. RTL 7 is RTL Nederland's "men's channel" with action films, reality television about crime and professions, football, motorsport and talk s ...

, interview by Wilfred Genee, 21 Jan. 2013).

Major results

;1988 : 1st Overall Giro di Basilicata ;1990 : 1st Prologue

Olympia's Tour The Olympia's Tour is a cycling stage race held in the Netherlands. History A.S.C. Olympia was founded in Amsterdam on 27 November 1898. It ran one-day races but wanted a race through all the Netherlands. The first Olympia's Tour was in 1909, wi ...

;1991 : 5th

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 ...

;1992 : 1st

: 1st

Omloop Mandel-Leie-Schelde Omloop Mandel-Leie-Schelde is a cycling race held annually in Belgium. It is part of UCI Europe Tour in category UCI race classifications, 1.1. The race, with a course variating between 160 and 190 kilometers, has Meulebeke, West Flanders as finish ...

: 1st Stage 6

Vuelta a Aragón Vuelta a Aragón is a professional bicycle road race held in Spain in May of each year. The event was first run in 1939, and was not held between 2006 and 2017. The future of the race is uncertain; there had been plans to organise it again, but an ...

: 2nd Overall

Étoile de Bessèges The Étoile de Bessèges () is an early-season five-day road bicycle racing stage race held annually around Bessèges, in the Gard department of the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France. First organized in 1971 as a one-day race, it became a ...

: 3rd 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 ...

::1st Stage 4 : 8th

Cholet-Pays de Loire Grand Prix Cholet-Pays de la Loire is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in March in Cholet, France. Since 2005, the race is organized as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle ra ...

;1993 : 1st Profronde van Heerlen : 1st Stage 4

Vuelta Asturias Vuelta Asturias is a professional cycle road race held in Spain in early May each year. The event was first run in 1925 but has not been held consistently until 1968 to present. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI ...

: 3rd Veenendaal–Veenendaal : 4th 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 ...

;1994 : 3rd

Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen (Championship of Flanders) or Koolskamp Koerse is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in September in Koolskamp (part-municipality of Ardooie), West Flanders, Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom ...

: 3rd

GP Stad Zottegem Egmont Cycling Race is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in August in Zottegem, Belgium. Since 2005, the race is organized as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competit ...

;1995 : 1st Amateur 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 ...

: 1st Overall

::1st Stages 8b & 9 : 1st Stage 3

Tour de Wallonie The Tour de Wallonie is a stage race cycling race on the UCI Europe Tour. It runs in Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium in the end of July. Between 1974 and 1995 it was reserved to amateurs. Since 2005, the race has been organized as a ...

: 2nd Road race, National Road Championships ;1996 : 1st Drielandenomloop : 2nd

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 ...

, National Road Championships : 3rd Overall Teleflex Tour : 7th Overall

Vuelta a Murcia The Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia () is a road bicycle race held in and around Murcia, Spain. The first four editions were reserved to amateurs. Originally the race was held in early March and consisted of five stages. However, due to Spain's fina ...

;1998 : 1st

Schaal Sels Schaal Sels is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in September in Merksem, Belgium. Since 2005, the race is organized as a UCI race classifications, 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. Winners Men ...

: 3rd Overall

Hessen Rundfahrt Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

::1st Stage 3 : 5th

Grote Prijs Jef Scherens Tour of Leuven - Memorial Jef Scherens (until 2021 ''Grote Prijs Jef Scherens'') is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in September in Leuven, Belgium. Since 2005, the race is organized as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. The race is ...

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

External links

Official site

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelissen, Danny 1970 births Living people Cycling announcers Doping cases in cycling Dutch sportspeople in doping cases Cyclists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Dutch male cyclists Olympic cyclists for the Netherlands Sportspeople from Sittard UCI Road World Championships cyclists for the Netherlands Cyclists from Limburg (Netherlands) 20th-century Dutch sportsmen

Major results

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

See also

External links

References