After having bought over Danish Continental team Team Trefor and naming it Team Virtu Pro-Veloconcept, Bjarne Riis has made his triumphant return to cycling with Lars Seier Christensen.

“Everything happened quite fast because the team were already up and running. Of course I have connections within Danish cycling and my son is riding there but they contacted me and said that they had a sponsor withdrawing after this year and they asked if there was any interest to go in and help them,” Riis told Cyclingnews.

“I talked to Lars and we had a few meetings and then we thought, let's do this. We looked to come in for the rest of this year, and also for the future.”

It is perhaps a surprise as many thought Riis would return at WorldTour level, with the Bahrain Project or by re-buying his old team, currently known as Tinkoff. Yet he says he prefers to start his team small from his own country.

“In general for us it makes a lot of sense. If you take our business project for example, it makes a lot of sense. It gives us a good start in Denmark and with the connections that we have it gives us a good set-up. Then of course we want to help the Danish talent come through. We want this team to be our feeder team to the big team we hope to have one day. It all makes a lot of sense.”