Rabobank will cease sponsorship of their UCI Continental development team at the end of 2016. The news was announced by Marcel Wintels, president of the KNWU, at the Autumn conference of the Dutch federation.
Rabobank discontinued their sponsorship of their World Tour team at the end of 2012. In a statement at the time, Rabobank said that doping was so rampant that it was “no longer convinced the international professional world of cycling can make this a clean and fair sport.”
However, the bank continued their sponsorship of both the Development Team and Rabo-Liv, a UCI Women’s team.
The team achieved some great wins since they started in 2002, and numerous World Tour riders made their name with the team. Amongst the riders who raced for the Rabobank Development Team were Martijn Maaskant, Lars Boom, Bauke Mollema, Tom-Jelte Slagter, Tejay van Garderen and Tom Dumoulin.
It’s unclear if the Rabo-Liv team will be affected by the news.
not cool!
Doping’s always a great excuse to bow out of deals…