Tour of California picks up new sponsor

Rabobank has signed a three-year sponsorship agreement to be a founding partner and the official bank of the Amgen Tour of California beginning in 2009, and extending through the 2011 event.

As part of the sponsorship, Rabobank will present the daily award given to the best young rider for that stage. Each day, all riders under the age of 23 compete for this special recognition. The recipient is determined by his overall placement at the finish line after each stage. During the daily awards ceremony, special recognition is given to the winner of the award as he is presented with the Rabobank Best Young Rider jersey. At the race’s conclusion, an overall winner of the jersey will also be named. Coincidentally, a rider from the Rabobank team has been the overall winner of this jersey for the past two years.

“We are pleased to enter into this partnership with AEG and to become the official bank of the Amgen Tour of California professional cycling race,” said Ronald Blok, chief executive officer of Rabobank, N.A. “In just three years, AEG has built the race into a highly professional and well-organized event that attracts millions of spectators and cycling fans in California and, increasingly, around the world. Rabobank has a long association with cycling and a century-old heritage of community banking, so our sponsorship of the Amgen Tour of California is an ideal synergy between our commitment to cycling and the growth of our bank in California.”

The 800-mile 2009 Tour of California will make its way through 16 host cities down the coast and through the Central Valley of California. The nine-day race starts on Saturday, February 14, 2009 in Sacramento and concludes on Sunday, February 22, in San Diego County, with a finish in Escondido.

Rabobank has been a sponsor of one of the world’s top elite cycling teams for the past 12 years, including three-time world road champion Oscar Freire and 2008 Tour of California stage winner Robert Gesink.