# Rolf Sørensen

Rolf Sørensen (born 20 April 1965) is a former Danish professional road bicycle racer. He is currently working as a cycling commentator and agent. Born in Helsinge in Denmark, Sørensen moved to Italy at the age of 17, where he has lived since. He goes under the name Il Biondo due to his blonde hair.

## Accomplishments

Sørensen won such classic one-day races as the Tour of Flanders, Liège–Bastogne–Liège, Paris–Brussels, Paris–Tours and Milano–Torino, as well as slightly smaller races like the Coppa Bernocchi (twice), and the Rund um den Henninger Turm or Grand Prix Frankfurt. He has led the UCI Road World Cup on several occasions, finishing third in 1989 and 1991 and second in 1997 after a broken foot kept him from scoring points in the last two World Cup races of the season.
Sørensen also won individual stages in the 1994 and 1996 Tour de France, and wore the yellow jersey as the leader of the race after the team time trial in 1991, won by his Italian team Ariostea. He kept it until he broke his collar bone in a fall four days later.
Rolf Sørensen participated in the Tour seven times, the last in 2001. He has also won a number of stages in other stage races, among them stage 9 of the 1995 Giro d'Italia, three stages in the Tour of the Basque Country, six stages in Tirreno–Adriatico, two in the Tour de Suisse, and two in the Tour de Romandie.
Sørensen also claimed the silver medal at the 1996 Olympics.

## Doping

For many years Sørensen denied that he used performance-enhancing drugs, but more than a decade after the end of his career as a professional cyclist he admitted using EPO, and to some extent, Cortisone. He broke the news to Danish TV2 on 18 March 2013.

## Career achievements
### Major results
#### 1986

    1st Points classification Danmark Rundt
    9th Milan–San Remo

#### 1987

    1st Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
    1st Grand Prix Pino Cerami
    2nd Overall Danmark Rundt
       1st Young rider classification
    3rd Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali

#### 1988

    1st Gran Premio Città di Camaiore
    2nd Overall Danmark Rundt
       1st Points classification
       1st Young rider classification
    2nd Züri–Metzgete
    2nd Rund um den Henninger Turm
    2nd Points classification Giro d'Italia
    3rd Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
    3rd Giro dell'Emilia
    3rd Grand Prix Pino Cerami
    8th Liège–Bastogne–Liège

#### 1989

    1st Stage 3 (TTT) Giro d'Italia
    1st Coppa Bernocchi
    1st Giro dell'Etna
    2nd Coppa Ugo Agostoni
    3rd Gent–Wevelgem
    4th Tour of Flanders
    4th Züri–Metzgete
    9th Rund um den Henninger Turm

#### 1990

    1st Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali
    1st Paris–Tours
    1st Trofeo Laigueglia
    2nd Coppa Bernocchi
    6th Züri–Metzgete
    6th Tre Valli Varesine
    7th Milano–Torino

#### 1991

    Tour de France
       1st Stage 2 (TTT)
       Held after Stage 2-5
    1st Stage 9 Tour de Suisse
    2nd Milan–San Remo
    3rd UCI Road World Cup
    3rd Tour of Flanders
    3rd Liège–Bastogne–Liège
    5th Giro di Lombardia

#### 1992

    1st Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
       1st Stage 3
    1st Paris–Brussels
    5th Giro di Lombardia
    7th Rund um den Henninger Turm
    9th Milano–Torino
    10th Milan–San Remo

#### 1993

    1st Liège–Bastogne–Liège
    1st Milano–Torino
    1st Rund um den Henninger Turm
    1st Coppa Bernocchi
    1st Stage 7 Tirreno–Adriatico
    1st Stage 9 Tour de Suisse
    1st Stage 3a Three Days of De Panne
    Tour de Romandie
       1st Stage 1, 2 & 6
    2nd Overall Tour of the Basque Country
    5th Milan–San Remo
    6th La Flèche Wallonne

#### 1994

    Tour de France
       1st Stages 3 (TTT) & 14
    1st Paris–Brussels
    1st Trofeo Laigueglia
    6th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
    6th Road race, UCI Road World Championships

#### 1995

    1st Stage 9 Giro d'Italia
    2nd Overall Three Days of De Panne
    2nd Milano–Torino
    2nd Points classification Giro d'Italia
    3rd Paris–Brussels
    4th Giro di Lombardia
    5th Giro dell'Emilia
    8th Liège–Bastogne–Liège
    9th Road race, UCI Road World Championships

#### 1996

    1st Stage 13 Tour de France
    1st Overall Ronde van Nederland
       1st Stage 4
    1st Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne
    1st Stage 7 Tirreno–Adriatico
    2nd Overall Danmark Rundt
    2nd Road race, Olympic Games
    3rd Rund um den Henninger Turm
    9th Liège–Bastogne–Liège
    9th Paris–Brussels
    9th De Brabantse Pijl

#### 1997

    1st Tour of Flanders
    1st Prologue Tirreno–Adriatico
    1st Stage 3b Three Days of De Panne
    2nd UCI Road World Cup
    3rd Züri–Metzgete
    4th Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne
    6th Paris–Roubaix
    8th Milan–San Remo
    10th Amstel Gold Race

#### 1998

    1st Overall Ronde van Nederland
    2nd Overall Danmark Rundt
    4th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
       1st Stage 5
    4th Overall Three Days of De Panne
    6th Paris–Roubaix

#### 1999

    2nd Overall Danmark Rundt
       1st Stage 1
    4th Overall Three Days of De Panne
    7th Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne

#### 2000

    1st Overall Danmark Rundt
    3rd De Brabantse Pijl
    8th Milan–San Remo
    8th Paris–Tours

#### 2001

    4th Tour of Flanders
    10th Milan–San Remo
    10th Paris–Roubaix

#### 2002

    6th Tour of Flanders

### Monuments results timeline

| Monument | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 |
| Milan–San Remo | 9 | 10 | 27 | 20 | 14 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 13 | 16 | 45 | 8 | — | 25 | 8 | 10 | — |
| Tour of Flanders | — | 65 | 34 | 4 | — | 3 | 83 | 15 | — | 22 | 9 | 1 | 20 | 16 | 14 | 4 | 6 |
| Paris–Roubaix | — | — | — | — | 53 | 51 | — | — | — | — | 6 | 6 | 15 | 41 | 10 | — | — |
| Liège–Bastogne–Liège | — | — | 8 | — | 34 | 3 | 46 | 1 | — | 8 | 9 | 18 | 68 | 26 | — | — | — |
| Giro di Lombardia | — | — | — | — | 33 | 5 | 5 | — | — | 4 | — | — | 25 | 12 | — | — | — |

### Grand Tour general classification results timeline

| Grand Tour | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 |
| Giro d'Italia | — | 42 | DNF | — | DNF | — | — | 30 | 61 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 124 |
| Tour de France | — | — | – | – | DNF | — | 70 | 19 | – | 28 | 68 | – | – | – | 141 | – |
| Vuelta a España | – | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | – | — | — | 59 | DNF | — | — | — |
Legend :
| — | Did not compete |
| DNF | Did not finish |