Bjarne Riis, the only rider from Denmark to win the Tour de France, was not invited to the Copenhagen festivities.

"Of course I'm sorry I couldn't be there. Of course I'm sorry I couldn't be there. 'Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way. That's life. That's life." He said.

Schleck, who stood on the Tour de France podium in Paris in 1996, led Team CSC/Saxo Bank to Tour victories with Carlos Sastre in 2008 and with Alberto Contador in 2010 after his retirement.

Schleck also told TV 2 Sport that he felt Riis should have been invited. 'A few weeks ago I spent a week with Bjarne in Denmark, and Bjarne is a hero. We walked the streets and everyone knows him. He is the best cyclist Denmark has ever produced.

." He is not the only one riding around with a not-so-superb past, but on the other hand he won the Tour and cycling in Denmark would not be what it is today without him."

ASO usually invites Tour de France champions to race, but this is not the first year that Riis has been ignored; in 2007 he admitted to using EPO, growth hormone, and cortisone to win the 1996 Tour de France title, and his relationship with ASO His relationship deteriorated.

He offered to return the jersey, saying, "My yellow jersey is in a box in my garage at home. You can come and get it. What's important to me are the memories."

He also confessed that he had been "very happy" with the jersey, and that he had "never had a bad experience.

Following this admission, Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France, announced that the ASO had crossed Lii's name off the list of past winners in its annual road book.

In 2020, prior to the official announcement of the Tour's official route, which will start in Denmark, Lys formally apologized. Prudhomme accepted the apology, but said, "It doesn't mean I draw a line in the past, I welcome it and it's a step forward."

The local organizing committee, Grande Pearl Copenhagen Denmark, said it preferred "official representatives of the Danish authorities" over Danish athletes.

Prudhomme, in response to a question about Riis' absence, said, "We work with politicians, not with former players," but indicated that he did not hold a grudge.

"I know what happened in the past. It's not very good and it's not good. But if he were standing in front of me, of course I would shake his hand," Prudhomme said.

Riis is not the only Dane caught up in cycling's murky past. Riis's former teammate Brian Holm, sport director of Quick-Step Alfa Vinyl, also admitted to using EPO during his working years; Michael Rasmussen, who was removed from the Rabobank team at the 2007 Tour de France for a whereabouts violation, was also a member of the team. Rasmussen admitted to using a number of performance-enhancing drugs after Lance Armstrong confessed to doping and received a lifetime ban.

This is the legacy of Danish cycling that current riders like Kasper Asgreen of Quick Step Alpha Vinyl want to leave far behind.

"I think there has been a huge cultural shift surrounding the past of doping in cycling, not only in Denmark, but all over the world," Asgreen said at a press conference on Wednesday. [I'm really happy to be a rider in this day and age, not a rider when it was necessary to compete, and if you want to be a professional, you have to make that decision.

Asgreen said those days are over. 'At least in my experience, as soon as you go pro, you get a chance. You can contribute with work that helps your teammates, and some players, like Fabio [Jacobsen] over here, are strong enough to win in their first year.

"I wasn't one of those players, but I could go directly into the team and help. With a little more experience and a little more leg work, I can get there. So I don't think [doping] is a consideration for anyone anymore, and the broader cycling community and all the fans believe that at this point.

Jonas Vingegaard, who made a surprise podium finish at the 2021 Tour de France after Jumbo Visma teammate Primoš Roglic fell, said he could understand if fans doubt the integrity of the current peloton.

"Because of what they did, there will always be doubts. That's the way it should be," Vingegaard said, adding that he does not feel that his country's dark past is a problem.

"I don't feel it's holding me back. I don't feel it's a bad thing for me because cycling has changed now."