BREST, France - Tour de France organizers have reinstated'96 champion Bjarne Riis, having previously taken his name out of the record books after he confessed to doping.
Riis, who owns Team CSC Saxo Bank, had been deliberately omitted from the Tour's official guide, after the Dane admitted in a press conference last year that he had used banned substances such as EPO during his career.
Riis was never officially removed as champion, however, by the International Cycling Union.
"Last year we removed his name from the historical guide, but we could not declassify him as he remains the winner and only the UCI can declassify someone," Tour spokesman Philippe Sudres said Friday. "We reinstated him in our guide and added a line to say he had admitted doping, but it is only a historical guide, it has no official bearing."
Following his confession, Riis stayed away from the 2007 Tour.
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