Team Sky ends its ties with release Steven de Jongh
Team Sky confirmed that it has ended its long-term associations with Steven de Jongh with immediate effect.
He served the British team as a Sports Director since its foundation in 2010 and has really been a major ingredient in the team’s winning recipe over the years.
“There’s no doubt about Steven’s work with us or his approach. He’s been a highly-valued Sports Director and colleague over three seasons,” Brailsford noted in a statement released by Team Sky.
He further added, “Steven deserves our respect for the courage he’s shown in being honest about the past and it’s right that we do our best to support him”.
“He has our best wishes for the next step in his career,” he concluded.
The Dutch himself rode professionally through 1995-2009 and filled his bag with several top performances during his professional career as a cyclist.
Steven marked his professional debut with Team TVM in 1995 and rode with the side through 1999 before signing a deal with Team Rabobank through 2000-05.
He joined the Belgian side, Team Quick-Step Innergetic through 2006-09 and announced his retirement as a cyclist in 2009.
The Dutch was approached by David Brailsford to serve Team Sky as a Sports Director in 2010 and he accepted the offer without any hesitation.
Team Sky emerged as one of the top World Tour sides especially after its performance in the 2012 season.
The biggest victory for the British team came during the Tour de France 2012 when it became part of the history claiming an overall victory at the event.
Bradley Wiggins became the first ever British cyclist to claim an overall victory at the Tour de France after his convincing win at the race.
He took a total time of 87 hours, 34 minutes and 47 seconds and occupied the top podium position with his teammate Christopher Froome of Team Sky Procycling finishing 3 minutes and 21 seconds at the second position.
Team Sky tops the 2012 UCI World Tour team’s rankings with as many as 1767 UCI points to its credit.
Bradley Wiggins (601 points), Christopher Froome (376 points), Edvald Boasson Hagen (317 points), Rigoberto Uran Uran (199 points) and Michael Rogers (194 points) made the major contributions.
Team Katusha is at the second position with 1273 points, while Team Liquigas-Cannondale, Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step and Team Movistar achieved next three positions with 1197, 1162 and 952 points respectively.
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