Rabobank Quits Cycling Over Armstrong Scandal

[Jazzy]

The Lance Armstrong doping scandal has prompted one of cycling's biggest sponsors to cut its ties with the sport.



Rabobank had sponsored a professional cycling team for the last 17 years, but claimed the Armstrong affair was the straw that broke the camel's back.



The US Anti-Doping Agency last week published an investigation into the cyclist after former teammates exposed what it described as the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen.



The Dutch bank's announcement came a day after its team suspended their Spanish rider Carlos Barredo as the International Cycling Union (UCI) launched a doping case against him.



We are no longer convinced that the international professional world of cycling can make this a clean and fair sport, bank board member Bert Bruggink said in a statement.



We are not confident that this will change for the better in the foreseeable future.



What the Usada showed us is that international cycle racing is not only sick but also at the highest level within cycling, including a number of the relevant authorities, including checks on the use of doping, he added.



In a statement, UCI said it understands the context which led Rabobank to make the decision.



But British cyclist David Millar criticised the move, saying on Twitter: 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.



The Rabobank team have won 23 Tour de France stage wins since their sponsorship began in 1996, most recently by Luis Leon Sanchez in Saint-Flour in 2011.



Mr Bruggink added: 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.

Source



Wow, this is a big blow to the sport.

 

[Jazzy]

To me, it's not fair for the ones who don't dope. Why punish them all?

 

[Jazzy]

Who's punishing the ones that don't?

Obviously Rabobank:

British cyclist David Millar criticised the move, saying on Twitter: 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.

 

[Jazzy]

It's not his job to stay in the sport just for the younger guys...



How can one say It's sickening because of what he wants to do with his life?

Rabobank is not a person: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabobank

 

[Jazzy]

Why is it sickening for a sponsor to not want to sponsor something or a group any more?

Probably because Rabobank is judging all the cyclists as dopers.

 

[DrLeftover]

It is a world the UCI and its teams have created for themselves.



And now one of the creators of that world wants to play all pious and say we didn't know it was like that.

Can you say 'bullshit' boys and girls... .... there, I knew you could.

 

[Evil Eye]

Guess it'll save them some embarrassment... Whatever.