Rolf Sørensen

Rolf Sørensen (born 20 April 1965) is a former Danish professional road bicycle racer. He is the most successful Danish bicycle racer ever, with 53 victories over 17 seasons. 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. He is married to Susanne.

Rolf Sørensen
Paris–Tours 1998
Personal information
Full nameRolf Sørensen
NicknameIl Biondo
Born (1965-04-20) 20 April 1965
Helsinge, Denmark
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight70 kg (154 lb; 11 st 0 lb)
Team information
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider
Professional teams
1986–1987Fanini
1988–1992Ariostea
1993Carrera Jeans–Tassoni
1994–1995GB–MG Maglificio
1996–2000Rabobank
2001CSC–Tiscali
2002Landbouwkrediet–Colnago
Major wins
Grand Tours
Tour de France
2 individual stages (1994, 1996)
2 TTT stages (1991, 1994)
Giro d'Italia
1 individual stage (1995)
1 TTT stage (1989)

Stage races

Tirreno–Adriatico (1987, 1992)

One-day races and Classics

Liège–Bastogne–Liège (1993)
Tour of Flanders (1997)
Paris–Tours (1990)
Paris–Brussels (1992, 1994)
Milano–Torino (1993)
Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne (1996)

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.[1]

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 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 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

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
Legend
Did not compete
DNF Did not finish

References

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