That’s not really a denial, Bjarne.

By Jessica | Permalink | No Comments | March 28th, 2007 | Trackback

When I read CSC Director Bjarne Riis’ reaction to the Belgian TV program’s allegations that he was on EPO when he won the 1996 Tour de France, I had one eyebrow very quizzically raised. Let’s see if you don’t experience the same physical phenomenon:

“I have never had a particularly close relation with Jef d’Hont and he has no validation for the allegations he is making. There will always be some one out there trying to make money by talking about the past and in my opinion that is probably, what he is trying to do here,” Riis said. “This is probably not the first nor the last time these kinds of stories surface. To me, it’s all in the past and I do not wish to be held accountable every time some one finds it interesting to bring up some ten-year-old story. I truly believe the future is much more important than the past. I want to be judged on the work I’m doing with my team today, and the results we achieve - that is what’s important to me.”

Did you notice what’s missing from that so-called “denial”? The actual denial. He never once says, “These accusations are completely false, I wasn’t using EPO.” He dodges the issue entirely. Thankfully, I’m not the only one who noticed that. I was beginning to think everyone reporting Riis’ statement had excerpted from a longer statement and just forgotten to include the “I didn’t use EPO” phrase in their excerpts.

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