Bjarne Riis closes his cycling career
After 40 years as an active rider, team owner and manager, Bjarne Riis is retiring from cycling for good. "Over the last few years in Switzerland, I've thought a lot about what I should do in the future. I've come to the conclusion that cycling, where I've been so far, is a closed chapter. I think I want to do something else," the 59-year-old told the Danish newspaper Borsen At the end of September. He is now moving from Switzerland back home to Denmark for this new phase in his life.
Bjarne Riis sells heat pumps with his company Riis Energy
Riis recently co-founded the company "Riis Energy", which sells heat pumps imported from Lithuania in Denmark. According to the CVR register, the former Tour de France winner holds a 20-25 per cent stake in the company. The aim of "Riis Energy" is to "contribute to the green and sustainable transition in Denmark", explains Jorgen Vesta, the company's CEO, on the Danish business portal finans.dk.
Riis had previously been a member of the board of Nortec, a company that sells washing machines and charging stations for electric vehicles. There, the Dane already gained experience as an entrepreneur. He himself explains on the company website that his cycling past also helps him in his jobs outside the sport: "A cycling team is not much different from a company. In both cases, it's about people. You need an organisation to function and perform."
Bjarne Riis: Career, successes & doping
Riis was the first Scandinavian to win the Tour de France with the German Telekom team in 1996. The most important helper in his triumph was Jan Ullrich, who won the "Grand Boucle" the following year. Although Riis admitted in 2007 that he had taken doping substances during this time, he is still officially recognised as the winner of the Tour of France.
After retiring as a professional cyclist in 2000, the Dane successfully built up the CSC cycling team as team manager. After his dismissal there in 2015, he was also briefly team manager at Team TreFor and NTT.
