The 1996 Tour de France was the 83rd edition of the Tour de France, starting on 29 June and ending on 21 July, featuring 19 regular stages, 2 individual time trials, a prologue and a rest day (10 July). It was won by Danish rider Bjarne Riis.
This Tour was noted by the "fall" of favourite Miguel Induráin, ending his record run of five consecutive victories. The course included a stage through his home town Villava, however he suffered a bronchitis because of the poor weather in the first week, and was fined and penalised for accepting drinks illegally.[1] Indurain started to lose time in stage 7, and finally ended 11th failing to win a single stage or spend one day in the yellow jersey.
Stage 9 was scheduled to be a 176 kilometre ride from Val-d'Isère to Sestriere. However, due to appalling weather conditions, including snow, the organisers cut the stage to just 46 km. Bjarne Riis won the stage and opened a crucial 44 second gap over Telekom teammate Jan Ullrich. Ullrich, only 22, really broke through in this Tour, and won the individual time trial of stage 20.
Over a decade after the race, several riders with Team Telekom confessed to doping offences around the period of the 1996 tour, including support riders Rolf Aldag, Udo Bölts, Christian Henn[2] and Brian Holm and team masseur Jef d'Hont has admitted in his autobiography that there was organised use of EPO in the team.[3] On 24 May 2007, Erik Zabel admitted to using EPO during the first week of the race. The winner of the Tour, Bjarne Riis, admitted on 25 May 2007 that he also used EPO during the Tour, as a result was asked by the International Cycling Union (UCI) to return the yellow jersey he received.[4] So far, runner-up Jan Ullrich, who has been under suspicion of doping as a part of the Operación Puerto doping case, has not commented on allegations that he also used EPO. Third place Richard Virenque and fourth place Laurent Dufaux were implicated in the 1998 Festina scandal.
UCI lawyer Philippe Verbiest stated in 2007 that the statute of limitations for removing Riis as winner of the Tour de France had expired, "you cannot strip him of the title but it is possible not to mention it anymore ... Because of what he admitted, he is not the winner of the Tour de France. Riis did not win." At the same time tour spokesman Philippe Sudres stated that: "We consider philosophically that he can no longer claim to have won."[5] In 2007, Riis' victory was removed from the Tour de France,[6] yet in 2008 they listed Riis as winner of Tour de France 1996, albeit with a remark about his confession.[7]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
^"Riis overcame climatic chaos to end the reign of Indurain". CNN. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 20 April 2010.
^"Zabel admits to doping at Telekom". BBC News. 24 May 2007. Archived from the original on 29 September 2008. Retrieved 20 April 2010.
^"flandersnews.be – Belgian book causes upset". Archived from the original on 1 September 2007. Retrieved 26 May 2007.
^"Riis told to return yellow jersey". BBC News. 25 May 2007. Archived from the original on 14 September 2007. Retrieved 20 April 2010.
^"ESPN – Tour no longer lists Riis as champ after doping admission – Cycling". Sports.espn.go.com. 7 June 2007. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
^"Tour Director Christian Prudhomme has erased Bjarne Riis' name from the Tour de France record books..." Autobus.cyclingnews.com. 7 June 2007. Archived from the original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
^"Bjarne Riis Reinstated As Tour Winner". BikeRadar. 4 July 2008. Archived from the original on 30 July 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
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