The next two years saw the international breakthrough of the team. Godefroot brought in Danish rider Bjarne Riis, finished third in the 1995 Tour, and he went on to win the 1996 Tour de France. Jan Ullrich was then a support rider, and finished in second place. In the 1997 Tour de France Ullrich as he won the race with support from Riis, who had earlier won the Amstel Gold World Cup race . Team Telekom also won the team classification, as the overall strongest team of the 1997 Tour.