Riis Suspended: Tinkoff-Saxo Expects Success

Mar 24, 2015 – Bjarne Riis has been suspended as manager of Tinkoff-Saxo, the cycling team of two-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador and Slovak Peter Sagan.

AFP/Yuzuru Sunada

Riis, 50, has not been “actively involved in the team’s activities since last Sunday,” the outfit confirmed on Tuesday.

Team members claim the club’s billionaire Russian owner Oleg Tinkov blames the 50-year-old Dane for poor results. But in a statement Tinkoff-Saxo insisted the former cyclist “was not suspended from his active role because of lack of results nor for financial issues”.

“The team’s management has full confidence in the technical and performance team, in all the riders and staff members and is currently working to establish the best way forward in the racing season,” the statement said.

Contador spoke out in support of his team chief, although he said he was in the dark over the suspension.

“Right now the first thing is to truly understand the situation because all we know is what is in the statement and basically we need to know why this decision has been taken,” he said before the start of Tuesday’s second stage of the Tour of Catalonia.

And he added that Riis is “someone very important in my career”. Riis won the 1996 Tour de France, but admitted in 2007 that he used EPO (erythropoietin) to secure victory, although his win has not been officially erased from the race’s record books.

Riis was in partnership with Tinkoff Credit Systems ahead of the 2013 season, and the following year sold the team, which he has run since his retirement in 1999, to Tinkov.

Full statement by Tinkoff-Saxo

“Following the rumors and speculations published by many Danish media first and then by international cycling media later last night, Tinkoff Saxo would like to clarify that Bjarne Riis is not being actively involved in the team’s activities since last Sunday. However, he was not suspended of his active role because of lack of results nor for financial issues. The team management has full confidence in the technical and performance team, in all the riders and staff members and is currently working to establish the best way forward in the racing season. No decisions have been taken and any formal and final decision on any team member – if taken – shall be communicated at the appropriate time. Until then there will be no further comments on this matter.”