‘Shared values’ and Danish links seal arrangement
Bjarne Riis is facing a nervous time this week with his star rider Alberto Contador appearing before the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but there was good news for his team today with the announcement that it has signed a three year contract to use BMW vehicles.
The Danish Saxo Bank squad will be driving the luxury car marque in the peloton thanks to the agreement with the Danish BMW and Mini dealer Jan Nygaard.
According to the latter, the fact that the team has such strong links with the country and wants to develop young riders from there was a deciding factor.
“Bjarne Riis and I met during the press announcement of the new Fight against Cancer campaign ‘TRÆD TIL,’ where we are both ambassadors,” Nygaard said. “Bjarne also supports Denmark’s youth and supports the work of bringing new talents into Danish cycling. These examples of who Bjarne Riis also is, are rarely mentioned, but are extremely important for us.”
Riis described himself as ‘extremely happy’ with the new partnership and said that the match was an obvious once due to shared values between the team and the supplier. The Dane also stated that the safety of his employees was important to him and the new vehicles would help in that regard. The team was yesterday awarded a place in the UCI ProTeam lineup. However the governing body said it was for one year only, with the team needing to apply again next autumn if it wishes to remain in the top echelon of the sport.