Bet on Cycling

The Rabobank company has confirmed its commitment to sponsoring cycling until 2016, ensuring the long-term future of the team from the Netherlands.

The Rabobank team had a successful 2010, with the highlights being Oscar Freire’s victory at Milano-San Remo and Robert Gesink winning Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal and finishing sixth in the Tour de France.

However the team is not resting on its laurels and is continuing to build for the future, carefully developing its own riders who have come through the Rabobank development system.

Russia’s Denis Menchov has moved to the smaller Geox team for 2011 but Rabobank has made sure other riders are ready to step up and fill his place in the team. Gesink will be 25 in May and this year’s mountainous Tour de France route and limited time trials will suit his climbing skills. Spain’s Luis León Sánchez will also fill Menchov’s shoes and hopes to continue his gradual but successful development as a stage race rider.

Oscar Freire is 35 in February but will again be the team’s protected sprinter for the big classics, but Rabobank can also count on Lars Boom and Matti Breschel. Boom is a former World Cyclo-cross World Champion and a world class trialist but also has the proven ability to ride on the cobbles.

New arrival Breschel will add a further dimension to Rabobank’s classics squad, while Dutchman Theo Bos boosts the sprinting options. Breschel won the Dwars door Vlaanderen race in 2010 and was unlucky in many of the other spring classics and in the World Championships road race when he finished second. 2011 could be his year.

Perhaps the most exciting new name in the team is that of Australia’s Michael Matthews. He won the Under 23 world road race title at home last year with a spectacular sprint finish. He could rapidly develop into one of the sport’s fastest sprinters. Remember his name.