Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

He is known as Mr. 60 Percent in some circles and was a member of the notriously doped up Gewiss-Bianchi teamof the 90s. It was the high flying 90s and who wasn’t on something? But the past is the past and Bjarne just wants to move on. This is just one more reason why cyclist from the 90s and any other time should get some type of amnesty.

“I have never had a particularly close relation with Jef d’Hont and he has no validation for the allegations he is making. There will always be some one out there trying to make money by talking about the past and in my opinion that is probably, what he is trying to do here,” Riis said. “This is probably not the first nor the last time these kinds of stories surface. To me, it’s all in the past and I do not wish to be held accountable every time some one finds it interesting to bring up some ten-year-old story. I truly believe the future is much more important than the past. I want to be judged on the work I’m doing with my team today, and the results we achieve - that is what’s important to me.”

Today Riis is doing the right things with the CSC program. He instituted DNA sampling of his riders to match up against any investigations. His internal team doping program has been certified by WADA and he split with Ivan Basso after the Operation Puerto debacle at the 2006 Tour. Riis is doing the right things to combat doping now and whether he did or did not do things during the 90s misses the point. If he did dope as most of the peloton was suspected of doing during the 90s then he knows what pressure a pro cyclist goes through. He can relate and he has been there. He can help riders avoid the pitfalls that make a rider desperate to dope. A guy like Riis is more valuable in cycling that out of it.