Daniel ("Danny") Wilhelmus Maria Nelissen (born 10 November 1970 in Sittard,

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

) is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer and former sports commentator at

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its international sports unit, it operates two main channels— Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territories, ...

. He won the 1995 amateur world championship and was named ''

Dutch Sportsman of the year The Dutch Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year are chosen annually by Dutch athletes from a shortlist compiled by sports journalists. The elections are organized by the Dutch Olympic Committee. All the winners receive a Jaap Eden Award to reme ...

''. He was the nephew of cycling commentator Jean Nelissen. He started his professional career in 1990 with PDM, for which he won his first professional race, the

Grand Prix de Wallonie The Grand Prix de Wallonie is an annual road bicycle race held annually in Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, ...

, in 1992. In 1994, while riding for the Dutch TVM team, he developed heart rhythm impairments and returned to ride at amateur level. The following year in Colombia he won the amateur world championship. He was the last amateur world champion, the UCI replacing the race with a youth competition in 1996. The triumph lead to Nelissen being voted as 1995 ''Dutch Sportsman of the year''. According to Nelissen, his use of a power meter was key to his win: he claimed that he was one of the few riders "(who) had them and knew what they could do" at that time, alongside

Greg LeMond Gregory James LeMond (born June 26, 1961) is an American former professional road racing cyclist, entrepreneur, and anti-doping advocate. A two-time winner of the Road Race World Championship (1983 and 1989) and a three-time winner of the Tou ...

and

Jonathan Vaughters Jonathan James Vaughters (born June 10, 1973) is an American former professional racing cyclist and current manager of UCI WorldTeam . Racing career Vaughters started competitive cycling in the 1980s, racing in the Red Zinger Mini Classics you ...

. All three riders shared the same coach, Adrie Van Diemen. He prepared for the race by tackling the hardest climb on the finishing circuit in a variety of ways to find the tactic which would enable him to complete the climb fastest, settling on riding it at a steady tempo. During the race he was able to use this tactic to catch up to the other riders in the winning break after being dropped by them at the start of the climb. He made his winning break just over a lap from the finish, attacking on a descent and soloing to the finish. He was brought into the

Rabobank Rabobank (; full name: ''Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A.'') is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Utrecht, Netherlands. The group comprises 89 local Dutch Rabobanks (2019), a central organisation (Raboban ...

team for two years under manager

Jan Raas Jan Raas (born 8 November 1952) is a Dutch former professional cyclist whose 115 wins include the 1979 World Road Race Championship in Valkenburg, he also won the Tour of Flanders in 1979 and 1983, Paris–Roubaix in 1982 and Milan–San Remo in ...

. In the

1996 Tour de France The 1996 Tour de France was the 83rd edition of the Tour de France, starting on 29 June and ending on 21 July, featuring 19 regular stages, 2 individual time trials, a prologue and a rest day (10 July). It was won by Danish rider Bjarne Riis. T ...

, he wore the polka dot jersey as leader of the mountains classification for a couple of days. Before 1998, he joined the

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

team, ''Team Home - Jack & Jones'' (later named

Team CSC Tinkoff () was a Russian-registered professional cycling team from Russia and previously Denmark. It competed in the UCI World Tour. The team was owned by Russian Oleg Tinkov and, from 1999 until March 2015, was managed by former Tour de France w ...

). In January 1999, further heart problems brought his retirement at 28. He is currently the production manager of Dutch Eurosport. Danny Nelissen was the first Dutch road bicycle racer to admit the use of doping during the years 1996 and 1997.Jules Seegers: Nelissen bekent als eerste Raborenner dopinggebruik in ’96
(Nelissen confesses use of doping in '96 as a member of the RaboBank team) Source: (Website) NRC Handelsblad, 19 Jan. 2013 He repeated his confession on Dutch television ( RTL7, interview by Wilfred Genee, 21 Jan. 2013).

Major results

;1988 : 1st Overall Giro di Basilicata ;1990 : 1st Prologue

Olympia's Tour The Olympia's Tour is a cycling stage race held in the Netherlands. History A.S.C. Olympia was founded in Amsterdam on 27 November 1898. It ran one-day races but wanted a race through all the Netherlands. The first Olympia's Tour was in 1909, w ...

;1991 : 5th

Grand Prix d'Isbergues Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and c ...

;1992 : 1st

: 1st Omloop Mandel-Leie-Schelde : 1st Stage 6

Vuelta a Aragon Vuelta, Spanish for "lap" or "roundtrip", is used in the name of a number of cycling races in Spanish speaking countries, as well as a few other contexts: Cycling races * Vuelta a Andalucía * Vuelta a Aragón, Spain * Vuelta a Asturias, Spain * ...

: 2nd Overall Etoile de Bessèges : 3rd Overall

Euskal Bizikleta Euskal Bizikleta (Spanish: ''Bicicleta Vasca'', English: ''Basque Bicycle'') was an annual road cycling stage race held in the Basque Country in June. From 2005 to 2008, the race was organized as a 2.HC event on the UCI Europe Tour. In 2009, it ...

::1st Stage 4 : 8th Cholet-Pays de Loire ;1993 : 1st Profronde van Heerlen : 1st Stage 4

Vuelta Asturias Vuelta Asturias is a professional cycle road race held in Spain in early May each year. The event was first run in 1925 but has not been held consistently until 1968 to present. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI ...

: 3rd Veenendaal–Veenendaal : 4th Overall

Tour de Luxembourg The Tour de Luxembourg is an annual stage race in professional road bicycle racing held in Luxembourg. The Tour de Luxembourg is classified as a 2.Pro race, the highest rating below the World Tour, by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), th ...

;1994 : 3rd

Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen (Championship of Flanders) or Koolskamp Koerse is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in September in Koolskamp (part-municipality of Ardooie), West Flanders, Belgium. Since 2005, the race is organized as a ...

: 3rd

GP Stad Zottegem Egmont Cycling Race is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in August in Zottegem, Belgium. Since 2005, the race is organized as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competit ...

;1995 : 1st Amateur road race,

UCI Road World Championships The UCI Road World Championships are the annual world championships for bicycle road racing organized by the (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships consist of events for road race and individual time trial, and a mixed team relay. Events ...

: 1st Overall

::1st Stages 8b & 9 : 1st Stage 3

Tour de Wallonie The Tour de Wallonie is a stage race cycling race on the UCI Europe Tour. It runs in Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northw ...

: 2nd Road race, National Road Championships ;1996 : 1st Drielandenomloop : 2nd

Time trial In many racing sports, an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athlete or team sets off at ...

, National Road Championships : 3rd Overall Teleflex Tour : 7th Overall

Vuelta a Murcia The Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia ( en, Tour of Murcia) is a road bicycle race held in and around Murcia, Spain. The first four editions were reserved to amateurs. Originally the race was held in early March and consisted of five stages. However, d ...

;1998 : 1st

Schaal Sels Schaal Sels is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in September in Merksem, Belgium. Since 2005, the race is organized as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions wh ...

: 3rd Overall Hessen Rundfahrt ::1st Stage 3 : 5th Grote Prijs Jef Scherens

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

External links

Official site

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelissen, Danny 1970 births Living people Cycling announcers Doping cases in cycling Dutch sportspeople in doping cases Cyclists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Dutch male cyclists Olympic cyclists of the Netherlands People from Sittard UCI Road World Championships cyclists for the Netherlands Cyclists from Limburg (Netherlands)

Major results

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

See also

External links

References