Bjarne Riis is in negotiations to sell a stake of Team Saxo-Tinkoff - which will revert to Team Saxo Bank in 2014 - according to Danish TV station tv2.dk. The 1996 Tour de France winner was one of those accused by the recent tell-all biography of disgraced former rider Michael Rasmussen, who accused the owner of what was then Team CSC of being aware of Rasmussen’s doping while he was on the team.
According to information gathered by tv2.dk, Riis is talking to four different parties, possibly including Oleg Tinkoff - as reported earlier this month - whose bank is current co-sponsor but will pull out of the team at the end of the year.
“I cannot comment on the process,” Saxo Bank’s head of communications, Kasper Elbjorn, told tv2.dk. “But Saxo Bank has, as you know, made an agreement with Riis Cycling, and I can't imagine how a signed agreement can fall in any way, unless there happens something completely unpredictable.”
Riis would reportedly not be selling the entire team, and would remain in control. Tinkoff has expressed a desire to be in total control of a cycling team, as he was with Tinkoff Credit Systems between 2006 and 2008. Having split so acrimoniously, the heads of Saxo Bank and Tinkoff Bank might be thrown together once again.
“I can only confirm that [Saxo Bank CEO] Lars Seier Christensen is following the process closely,” said Elbjorn, “and that the interest in sponsoring a cycling team is bigger than ever.”