Roche defends team move

Ireland’s Nicolas Roche has defended his decision to move to a team run by one of the sport’s most notorious dopers during his own career.

Roche has moved to Danish team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank but when asked does the move court controversy he said: “If Riis has taken drugs in the 90s, does it mean I have to take drugs today? No, I don’t think so.”

Speaking on Newstalk, Roche said, “When I signed the contract, Riis made me sign anti-doping rules and loads of different points just to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Obviously the Contador story is there but I don’t want to get into the politics. I think we’ve analysed different aspects of the team; that obviously was one of the aspects. But that’s one of the aspects that unfortunately comes over — if you look over the last 10 or 15 years — [for] most of the teams. I don’t think there’s any team has been spared that issue at any stage.”