Bjarne Riis
Riis at the 2007 Tour of California. | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Bjarne Lykkegård Riis |
| Nickname | Ørnen fra Herning (The Eagle from Herning) |
| Born | 3 April 1964 Herning, Denmark |
| Height | 1.84 m (6 ft 1⁄2 in) |
| Weight | 71 kg (157 lb; 11 st 3 lb) |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Team Waoo |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider (retired) Team manager |
| Rider type | All-rounder |
| Professional teams | |
| 1986 | Roland |
| 1987 | Lucas |
| 1988 | Toshiba–Look |
| 1989 | Super U–Raleigh–Fiat |
| 1990–1991 | Castorama |
| 1992–1993 | Ariostea |
| 1994–1995 | Gewiss–Ballan |
| 1996–1999 | Team Telekom |
| Managerial teams | |
| 1999–2015 | home–Jack & Jones |
| 2016 | Team Virtu Pro–Véloconcept |
| Major wins | |
Grand Tours
| |
Bjarne Lykkegård Riis (Danish pronunciation: [ˈpjɑːnə ˈʁiˀs]; born 3 April 1964), nicknamed The Eagle from Herning (Danish: Ørnen fra Herning), is a Danish former professional road bicycle racer who won the 1996 Tour de France, then later admitted he illegally doped 1993 - 1998.
For many years, he was the owner and later manager of the Oleg Tinkov associated Russian UCI WorldTeam Tinkoff–Saxo. 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
On 25 May 2007, he admitted that he doped with banned substances between 1993 and 1998 including when he placed first in the Tour de France, and he was no longer considered the winner by the Tour's organizers.
In July 2008, the Tour reconfirmed his 1996 victory but with an asterisk label to indicate his doping offences. This was done after the UCI claimed there was a 10 year statute of limitations (even though when Lance Armstrong was later stripped of his Tour titles, some of them were more than 10 years prior).
In 2025, Riis said in an interview he had no regrets that he had cheated by doping, supposedly as with no penalty imposed and no stripping of his title, the records show he 'won' the Tour de France, admitted it and got away with it.