David Millar goes, one-on-one with the Dutch sponsor Rabobank
The USADA investigation in the previous American side, Team US Postal has caused a lot of fuss in the cycling world.
A 1000 page report launched by the organisation has involved many a big names and as many as 24 cyclists have already accepted the use of performance enhancing drugs in their career.
Following the disappointment, Rabobank one of the biggest sponsors over the past years has decided to end its associations from the sport for both the men and the women teams.
The announcement was made earlier this week and it has left a dozens of cyclists without a team in the coming season.
"The Rabobank cycling team regrets Rabobank’s decision to stop its sponsorship of the men’s professional cycling team,” the team
“The team was informed about the reasons and understands the decision. We’ve been cycling for 17 years now with the name Rabobank proudly on our shirts and it hurts that going forward we’ll have to do without that name," the team said in a statement.
The Dutch bank has been a real help for the sport since the past 17 years and its role in supporting the Dutch cycling teams, both men and women can never be denied as noted by Team itself.
Team Rabobank also stated that, it is only because of the bank’s sponsorships that world has seen several new talents and it helped them in justifying their true potential.
The team has shown its trust in the bank and explained that they are confident that the sponsor will take care of all the cyclists and the staff members of Rabobank Wielerploegen BV in finalisation of the issue.
As a reaction of the bank’s decision to quit its associations from the sport of cycling, David Millar of Team Garmin-Sharp has stepped up as he posted on his Twitter account.
He wrote, "Dear Rabobank, you were part of the problem. How dare you walk away from the young clean guys who are part of the solution. Sickening".
“You are throwing away the chance to be part of the future of what is, in your own words, “…a beautiful sport”.
Despite the loss of its major sponsor, the Dutch team will attempt to continue at the top level of the sport, taking a page out of Team High Road’s book, when T-Mobile pulled itself out of the sponsorship back in 2007.
Tags: