Rabobank pull-out latest blow for cycling

CYCLING:DUTCH BANK Rabobank ended its multi-million euro backing of professional cycling yesterday, the latest sponsor scared away by the doping scandal that has engulfed seven-times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.

The bank is the biggest backer of the high profile Dutch Rabobank team, with total sponsorship worth €15 million a year in a cycling-mad nation with as many bikes as people.

The decision shows the damage being done to cycling after US Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) said Armstrong had taken part in and organised a sophisticated doping scheme on his way to success.

“We are no longer convinced the international professional world of cycling can make this a clean and fair sport. We are not confident this will change for the better in the foreseeable future,” Bert Bruggink, a Rabobank board member, said in a statement.

“The Usada report was the final straw,” he added later at a news conference televised live in the Netherlands. “The international sport of cycling is not only sick, the sickness goes up to the highest levels,” he said.

Sportswear company Nike and brewing group Anheuser-Busch dropped their sponsorship of Armstrong this week, and the sport must show it can tackle doping effectively to prevent more of its backers from quitting.

The International Cycling Union (UCI), the sport’s governing body, has yet to rule on Usada’s report into Armstrong and has been criticised for dragging its heels.

“Despite inevitable and sometimes painful consequences, the UCI reaffirms its commitment to the fight against doping and full transparency about potential anti-doping rule violations,” the Swiss-based UCI said yesterday.

Armstrong has always denied taking banned substances but has decided not to challenge the Usada charges.

The Rabobank decision was criticised by British cyclist David Millar, an ex-doper turned anti-doping campaigner, who tweeted: “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”.

Rabobank declined to comment on Millar’s tweet but their decision is a blow to Dutch riders including Marianne Vos, an Olympic gold medallist, and her team’s preparations for the 2016 Games.

Bruggink said Rabobank would do “everything we can to support her 2016 Olympic ambitions” but did not elaborate.

American rider Levi Leipheimer, who rode for Rabobank between 2002 and 2004, was sacked this week by the Quick-Step Cycling Team after admitting to the Usada investigation he took banned substances.

Leipheimer (38) was one of 11 former team-mates to testify against Armstrong.

Another sponsor, SKINS, partners of the Rabobank team, said on Thursday they would reconsider their association with the sport if the UCI failed to act on doping.

SKINS chief executive Jaimie Fuller warned the commercial fall-out could be worse than the damage suffered by a doping scandal centred on the Festina team that hit the Tour de France in 1998.

Cycling has attracted a new generation of sponsors in recent years who stress their commitment to clean competition.

Huib Kloosterhuis, the head of the Dutch Cycling Union, said it was “a black day for us and cycling in the Netherlands” and it would be hard to replace Rabobank in the current environment.

The Rabobank cycling team, who have taken part in every single Tour de France since 1984, said they regretted but understood the bank’s decision.

However, Irish former Olympic coach Dave Smith said yesterday: “Fact that Rabobank decision includes the women’s team suggests that it’s a commercial decision not an ethical one. USADA provided excuse.”