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Riis returns to peloton as SA-based NTT manager

Copenhagen - Bjarne Riis, who won the Tour de France in 1996 and then admitted after he retired that he had doped, said on Wednesday that he was becoming manager of the NTT team.

The change came as part of a deal between NTT (formerly Dimension Data) and Danish cycling operation Team Virtu which is part-owned by Riis and which already had a second-tier men's team.

"Together, I believe we can develop one of the world's best cycling teams," Riis said in Copenhagen at a press conference where Virtu said it had taken a one-third stake in South Africa-based NTT.

"A lot of people say that this is my comeback in cycling, I don't really agree," said the Dane.

"I never really left cycling."

Riis, who was never banned and is still recognised as the 1996 Tour champion, became a team manager in 1999 at the team that was founded as Professional Cycling Denmark, but in its later years was sponsored by the Saxo and Tinkoff banks. Riis left in 2015. He set up Virtu with two partners in 2016.

In July 2021, the Tour de France will start for the first time in Denmark, with a 13km individual time trial in Copenhagen.

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