Former Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis, 55, will take on the role of manager of South Africa-based NTT Pro Cycling, the UCI WorldTeam announced yesterday.
This comes after the team announced it would be joining forces with Danish outfit Virtu Cycling, which is co-owned by Riis and entrepreneurs Lars Seier Christensen and Jan Bech Andersen.
“This is a proud moment for our organisation and I’m really excited by this partnership and its potential,” said Riis, who won the 1996 Tour de France and is a former owner and later manager of Russian UCI WorldTeam Tinkoff-Saxo.
“Together I believe we can develop one of the world’s best cycling teams built on being performance- and technology-driven, combined with our many years of experience from the WorldTour.
“We have had some thorough and fruitful talks and meetings with Doug Ryder on the team’s future and potential. I’m really looking forward to our collaboration and to taking on the sporting leadership of the team in this new setup.”
He added that he had nothing but admiration for what founder and team principal Ryder had built and achieved with the outfit, starting at continental level and building it to become a WorldTour-team.
“Together I believe we can take it to the next level and make it a team that everybody – riders and staff – wants to be a part of.”
Ryder added that this was yet another significant moment in the history of the team, and indeed for its future.
“The expertise and breadth of experience that Bjarne Riis will provide in supporting the sporting development through our unique technology-driven performance approach will be hugely significant and further add to what we have built with our title sponsor.
“I believe this partnership will benefit the entire team by helping them achieve great results which in turn will help shine a spotlight on our partners, our way of working as a team, and most importantly our commitment of support for the Qhubeka Charity.”
