Tag: Bjarne Riis

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Trey Greenwood Leaves Riis Cycling

Trey Greenwood Leaves Riis CyclingFollowing internal reorganisation managing director Trey Greenwood is set to leave Riis Cycling, owners of Team Saxo-Tinkoff, at the end of March after more than five years with the company. Owner Bjarne Riis, a former Tour de France winner, and the management of Riis Cycling have been working on reshaping of the company in order to further strengthen their focus on the commercial and sporting activities; Riis himself will take over as CEO although some responsibilities of the position will be hived off to new newly created technical director and a commercial director positions.

 

Commenting on his decision to split with the company Greenwood said, ‘It has been a very exiting and eventful five and a half years with the team. It has been a period of great change and many challenges, and when I look back at the team, I initially joined and consider the team that I leave now, I am very proud of the progress we have made, and the accomplishments we have shared, not only on the road, but commercially as well. The company now goes into a new phase, and I am ready to explore new opportunities and look for new challenges….’

 

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Saxo Banks on Contador (Again)

Danish-based Team Saxo Bank have officially announced that disgraced Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador will rejoin them on August 5, following the serving out of his suspension for doping offences which dated back to the 2010 TdF. Following a tortuously protracted period which saw the 29-year-old initially cleared by the Spanish Cycling Federation – who believed the story that he had accidentally ingested the performance-enhancer Clenbuterol via contaminated meat – the Saxo Bank star was finally found guilty by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) following appeals by both the UCI and The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada). The verdict saw Contador banned from the sport for a two year period, but much of it retrospectively meaning he is free to rejoin his former team later this summer.

 

The new deal with Saxo Bank ties Contador to the team until the end of the 2015 season. Commenting on his return, team owner Bjarne Riis says: ‘A lot of speculations and rumors have surrounded Alberto Contador and his future in the past months, but both our sponsors, the team and Alberto have shared the same wish to continue and built on our relationship. All along throughout these last two tough years we have stood by Alberto, so to be able to announce his return to the team is something I have been really looking forward to.’

 

Unsurprisingly Contador seems more than happy with the situation, commenting: ‘The support I have experienced from (Bjarne Riis and the team) in a very difficult situation is extraordinaire. I’m really looking forward to getting back on the bike, and my aim is to repay that support, hopefully with some great results…’

 

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Denmark’s the Start for Giro 2012

Giro d'ItaliaAfter months of speculation the organisers of the Giro d’Italia have finally announced that the 2012 edition will begin in Denmark, marking its first ever visit to Scandinavia. The Giro will kick off on Saturday, May 5, in Herning (coincidently also the birthplace of Bjarne Riis who rides for Saxo Bank-SunGard) with the Individual Time Trial beginning and ending at the town’s Exhibition Centre. Stage two’s 200k loop will also call Herning home, before the action transfers to Horsens in east Jutland for stage three and then moves back to more familiar Italian home ground. The decision finally lays to rest the rumours that the 2012 Giro would begin in Washington DC – which would have made it the first Grand Tour to start outside of Europe – and marks the tenth occasion on which it has started outside of Italy. The 2010 edition started in Amsterdam.

 

In a joint statement the mayors of Herning and Horsens, Lars Krarup and Jan Tojborg respectively, comment: “We share a strong tradition for cycling and are experienced in handling large, international events and we look forward to the challenge and to giving the Italians a perfect start of the race in 2012.”

 

This year’s Giro d’Italia starts May 7 in Turin, finishing May 29 in Milan.