Having been associated with cycling for decades, Dutch bank Rabobank now wishes to distance itself from the sport and withdraws its support for a Tour de France grand depart on Dutch soil in 2015 or 2016 according to Dutch newspaper Het Algemen Dagblad.

Recently cycling has been hit by yet another avalanche of doping related scandals and confessions, many of these involving riders from the Rabobank team. As a consequence the bank has opted to terminate its sponsorship of the team, and now it also pulls out from the project of landing a Tour grand depart in Holland.

“We put an end to our sponsorship of the professional cycling team as a result of all the doping affairs,” says Heleen Crielaard, head of Rabobank marketing. “They have also caused us to retreat our support for the Tour start in Utrecht.”

Aleif Wolfsen, mayor of Utrecht, sees no reason why the city would abandon its ambitions of luring the Tour to Utrecht as a result of the decision made by Rabobank. “We believe in a clean cycling with a new generation,” he says optimistically.