Cycling legend responds to Danish doping decision

Doping cases go hand-in-hand with the cycling race Tour De France. So much so that three out of four Danes believe the next Tour De France winner will mostly likely be helped over the finish line by drugs.

A Voxmeter survey asked 1,005 respondents if the Tour de France could be won by a clean rider without the use of doping, and 72.2 percent answered 'no', Metroxpress reports.

Cycling legend disagrees
Bjarne Riis, Tinkoff-Saxo's team manager, who himself in 1996 won the Tour De France using banned drugs, said the judgement was made by people who didn't know what they were talking about.

He claimed the distrust is based on a limited awareness of how much the sport has been cleaned up lately.

"The people who have been asked have no knowledge of it and they haven't got a chance to learn more," he told Metroxpress.

"They speculate and they guess. That is all there is to it."

Tour de Doping
Riis admitted in 2007 to doping in his 1996 victory. His title was immediately withdrawn, but then restored in 2008 with a label indicating his doping offence.

"Cycling has its history and we can't communicate it any differently to how we do," he said.

We are doing our best to ensure a clean sport. We can't expect everyone to know what's going on."

More than half of all Tour De France winners in the last 20 years have admitted to doping.




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