Mark Renshaw disappointed after Rabobank quits its sponsorship
The demise of Team HTC-Highroad by the end of 2011 season was a shock several Cyclists on the American squad had to bear and it also ended the careers of many.
However, cyclists like Mark Renshaw managed to find a new home on the basis of their previous performances.
Renshaw was accepted by the Dutch outfit, Team Rabobank for the 2012 season and it was indeed a big relieve for the cyclist.
However the Australian was shocked when he heard the news of Rabobank backing away as the team’s main sponsor.
Renshaw is currently back home, celebrating the birth of his first kid as the news raised a lot of questions marks about his future since the departure of the team’s major sponsor.
He started the professional crusade with Team Fdjeux.com back in 2004 and stayed with the team by the end of 2005.
The 29-year-old joined Team Credit-Agricole through 2006-08 and joined Team Columbia-High Road for 2009-11 seasons before signing a deal with Team Rabobank in 2012.
He secured the fourth stage of the Tour of Turkey 2012 and finished third during the stage 13 of the Giro d’ Italia 2012 along with a fourth overall finish at the Delta Tour Zeeland.
While commenting on Rabobank’s exit form professional cycling, ending 17 years of a long relationship he was frustrated as he briefed to Cyclingnews.
“I’m angry but.... I don’t know what I am,” he admitted.
“I’m probably not angry; I’m frustrated that it’s got to this point when it probably should have been cleared up a long time ago”.
“Everything that’s going on is from the past which I had no part of”.
“In the couple of years after that the sport has improved a lot and I think we need to look at that a bit more”.
“The last few years have been some great racing and some clean racing I believe. It’s been a great sport but the demons of the past are coming back now”.
However, the Dutch side intends to continue at the top level of the sport even after the exit of Rabobank.
It can learn a lesson from Team HTC-High Road who was in same sort of situation after losing T-Mobile as its major sponsor but managed to survive the consequences.
Tags: