Dutch banking group to stop sponsorship of cycling team after 28 years in wake of Lance Armstrong doping revelations. The Dutch banking group Rabobank is to pull out of the sport in the wake of the Lance Armstrong doping revelations after almost 30 years of continuous involvement, saying it is "no longer convinced" professional cycling can be realistically viewed as clean.
The surprise announcement will see Rabobank's distinctive orange and blue jerseys disappear from its men's and women's professional teams at the end of the year, though the financial support, worth more than £12m a year,will continue for a period.
In a statement Rabobank said it had made its decision following the publication last week by the US Anti-Doping Agency of an exhaustive and damning report into the organised doping activities of Armstrong, the now-disqualified seven times Tour de France winner, and his US Postal team. The report has sparked fresh coverage about the endemic nature of drug use in professional cycling during the Armstrong era.
The Usada report "speaks volumes" about the sport, Rabobank said. Bert Bruggink, a member of the bank's managing board, said: "We are no longer convinced that the international professional world of cycling can make this a clean and fair sport. We are not confident that this will change for the better in the foreseeable future."
He continued: "Cycling is a beautiful sport, which millions of Dutch people enjoy and a large number of those Dutch people are clients of Rabobank. But our decision stands: we are pulling out of professional cycling. It is painful. Not just for Rabobank, but especially for the enthusiasts and the cyclists who are not to blame in this."
The announcement comes the day after a Spanish Rabobank rider, Carlos Barredo, was suspended for possible doping, though there is no indication the two are linked.
The 27-strong men's team, more than half of whom are Dutch, and the women's squad, led by the 2012 Olympic road race champion Marianne Vos, will not be immediately broken up but will continue to ride under the "white label" of a new foundation, the teams' managers said in a statement.
"We will honour our contracts with the riders," Bruggink told a press conference, according to Cycling News. "The pro teams come in a separate foundation and hence contractual and financial obligations are unconditional."
The announcement was nonetheless unexpected and brought criticism, with Robert Gesink, a Dutch Rabobank rider, saying he was "extremely bitter that we are now paying for what happened in the past".
David Millar, the British rider who returned from a drugs ban to play a leading role in the vehemently ani-doping Garmin squad, was even more vehement, tweeting: "Dear Rabobank, you were part of the problem. How dare you walk away from your young clean guys who are part of the solution. Sickening."
Millar's point is that the Dutch bank stood by the team even when they were embroiled in some of the worst aspects of the doping era. In 2007 Rabobank looked set to gain their only Tour de France win through Michael Rasmussen, who led the race with four stages to go. But the Danish rider was sacked by the team as pressure built over his failure to attend a series of earlier doping tests.
Levi Leipheimer, one of Armstrong's key Tour de France lieutenants who confessed to doping as part of the Usada investigation, is a former Rabobank rider. The Usada report named another former rider for the team, Johan Bruyneel, who went on to manage Armstrong, as a key player in the doping conspiracy, charges he says he will fight.
The decision is a significant reverse for professional cycling as it seeks to emerge from the shadow of Armstrong's legacy and convince the public and other sponsors it is becoming largely drug-free. These efforts have been boosted by the appearance of vehemently and publicly anti-doping teams, also including Team Sky, led by Britain's 2012 Tour de France winner, Bradley Wiggins. In the wake of the Armstrong revelations Sky this week announced they would oblige all staff and riders to sign a pledge saying they have never doped.
Rabobank's departure is all the more significant given both the company's long association with cycling and its base in the Netherlands, one of the most enthusiastic cycling nations in the world.

By Peter Walker

Source: www.guardian.co.uk