After Belkin announced they will end sponsorship of their cycling team earlier this week, some of the teams key riders, like Bauke Mollema have been asking their agents to try and find them a ride for 2015. According to De Telegraaf, Mollema’s agent has contacted Tinkoff-Saxo about the availability of Mollema.

“I was called the same day to see if I was interested in Mollema,” team owner Oleg Tinkov told the newspaper. While he was interested in the rider who finished sixth in last year’s Tour de France, he wasn’t happy with the offer that was being put on the table. “He is definitely a good rider, but the amount being asked is too high. If a decent proposal comes, I would be interested,” he continued.

“The same applies to Wilco Kelderman. He is a great talent that I would like to have, best in the squad. But most of the agents who call me think that I am a stupid Russian who will take anything on the table. But I’m not that stupid, otherwise I wouldn’t have so much money."

Should Belkin not be able to find another company to sponsor them, they will fold and this is why there is a large number of riders not prepared to gamble on finding a sponsor and are trying to sort out their future quickly.

"Mollema is at the end of his contract and every team knows that. And every WorldTour team with ambition know his status and there’s a lot of interest in signing him if things with Belkin’s sponsorship search don’t work out. It doesn’t surprise me at all that Tinkov is interested." Said his agent Martijn Berkhout to Cyclingnews, who also looks after Classics star Sep Vanmarcke.

The Tour de France begins soon and Belkin will know by then if they have found a sponsor and their riders will know if they need to start looking elsewhere.