COPENHAGEN, (Reuters) – Former Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis failed to act after learning that riders on the professional cycling team he managed were using performance-enhancing drugs, a damning report from Danish sporting authorities said.
The report into claims of doping in Danish cycling was released yesterday by the country’s Anti-Doping Authority and National Olympic Committee after a two-and-a-half year investigation that collated material from more than 50 interviews.
It followed a similar U.S. probe that ended with Lance Armstrong, hitherto the sport’s global icon, being stripped of his seven Tour De France titles for doping offences and banned from professional cycling for life.
Riis, 51, won the Tour in 1996 and was feted during his heyday as the greatest Danish cyclist of the modern era, but he subsequently admitted having doped during his career.
He later managed Team Saxo, which competes on the main pro circuit, before being sacked by the rebranded Team Tinkoff-Saxo in March following a dispute with new owner Oleg Tinkov.
“Management, with Bjarne Riis in overall charge, has at a minimum had knowledge of doping within the team, but failed to intervene. It is completely unacceptable,” Danish Anti-Doping Authority director Michael Ash said in a statement on Tuesday.
