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 was a client of Francesco Conconi and Luigi Cecchini. 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 March 18, 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
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
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
References
External links
DCU profile
Trap-Friis profile
1965 births
Living people
Danish male cyclists
Danish Tour de France stage winners
Cyclists at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Olympic cyclists for Denmark
Olympic silver medalists for Denmark
Danish Giro d'Italia stage winners
Cycling announcers
Olympic medalists in cycling
Danmark Rundt winners
Danish sportspeople in doping cases
Doping cases in cycling
People from Gribskov Municipality
Tour de Suisse stage winners
Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Cyclists from the Capital Region of Denmark