The 1996 Tour de France: What to do with Bjarne Riis’ yellow jersey - Podcast part III

In our final instalment we look back at the final week of the 1996 Tour de France, before heading to Denmark to sit down for frank interview with race winner Bjarne Riis.

We start in Hautacam, where Riis put in one of the most astonishing Tour displays in living history, riding up the final climb in the big ring and destroying a world-class field.

The stage to Pamplona – Miguel Indurain’s hometown - is covered, while we also hear from several others who covered the race, including The Times’ Jeremy Whittle and the Guardian’s William Fotheringham.

Finally we meet with Riis and talk about his past. It’s well documented that Riis, like the vast majority of the riders he competed against during his career, was doped on a concoction of EPO and other banned substances. We ask Riis about his thoughts on that – how his yellow jersey brings up a both a sense of pride and shame - and his nickname of Mr 60 per cent, a reference to his alleged haematocrit level. He once offered the yellow jersey back to race organisers but over time his feelings have gradually changed.

We hope you’ve enjoyed these special editions of the Cyclingnews podcast. We’ll be bringing you more episodes throughout this year’s Tour de France.

To listen to part one of the podcast, click here, and to listen to part two, click here