Tour de France: Former winner Riis not invited to the Tour start
DPA
· 29.06.2022
Former Danish cycling star Bjarne Riis is disappointed not to have been invited to this year's start of the Tour de France in Copenhagen.
"Of course I'm annoyed about not being there. I had hoped for that," said the Tour-de-France-1996 winner to the Danish broadcaster TV2 Sport. "Unfortunately, it's not meant to be. That's life. That's all I have to say about it."
Tour de France organisation speaks out
In an email to the broadcaster, the organisers pointed out that they had prioritised inviting official representatives such as mayors, members of the government and representatives of the royal house to the Tour events instead of Danish athletes.
The 109th Tour begins in the Danish capital Copenhagen on Friday with a Individual time trial. Two more stages in Denmark will follow at the weekend before the tour moves on to France.
Riis, now 58, was the only Scandinavian professional cyclist to win the Tour in 1996 for Team Telekom. At the time, he was regarded as a sporting hero in Denmark. He admitted to doping in 2007.
Riis shocked Tour leadership
He shocked the Tour management at the time by saying that his yellow jersey was in a cardboard box in the garage at home and that the organisers were welcome to pick it up there.
According to TV2, two years ago he apologised to Tour director Christian Prudhomme by text message for this comment.
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