Few big-time bankers get as excited by cycling as Piet van Schijndel. Then again, he has millions of dollars in sponsorship riding on races such as the Tour de France.
Perhaps Van Schijndel's best moment came in July during this year's Tour when Michael Rasmussen crossed the finish of the 16th stage with "Rabobank" emblazoned on his chest.
The Dane had won the Tour's toughest Pyrenees stage for Rabobank -- one of the biggest banks in the Netherlands -- and appeared to have a lock on the title.
"I saw him win the stage on the Aubisque mountain at 5pm, then at 8pm, I got this call," said Van Schijndel, an executive board member of Rabobank.
In what Van Schijndel called a "nightmare," Rabobank pulled Rasmussen out of the Tour for lying about his whereabouts to avoid doping tests. Things got worse a few days later when rumors surfaced that a team leader was also involved.
Rabobank immediately ordered an inquiry, which found that Rasmussen acted on his own without team involvement. He was fired and Rabobank emerged with its reputation intact.
"We employ 50,000 people. Everybody knows here that if you put your hands in the till and take a euro, you are gone," Van Schijndel said.
In cycling, doping allegations can instantly tarnish a sponsor's reputation -- and make it difficult to draw new multinational companies into the sport.
Because of the doping scandals, the cost of sponsoring a cycling team has leveled off in the past two years at an annual average of about 8 million euros(US$11.75 million).
Deutsche Telekom, the main sponsor of the T-Mobile team, last month ended its 16-year involvement in cycling because of a series of doping cases. Audi and Adidas also dropped their team.
When Discovery Channel stopped sponsoring of Lance Armstrong's former team this year, team leader Johan Bruyneel had a replacement firm lined up. But it pulled out at the last minute because of doping scandals.
Wim Lagae, a professor in sports marketing at Leuven University in Belgium, said cycling is not alone in facing sponsorship problems and that, as risks go, it remains an attractive niche.
"There are a lot worse deals to be had," Lagae said. But "in bad times ... there is this immediate overshoot, and you end up in crisis communication."
On the plus side, cycling sponsors gets major and immediate exposure since the brand name is the team name. Exposure is huge in key European markets almost throughout the year, and globally during the Tour de France.
Next season promises to be crucial for the future of professional cycling -- if doping stays in the news its downward spiral might become irreversible.
"It will be the time of truth," Van Schijndel said. "If it doesn't get better and we get more incidents, it will be very bleak."
Lagae, however, sees it as a time of opportunity, much as a savvy investor buys when stocks are down.
"For a smart company, this is the time to get in," he said.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite