Rabobank irritated to lose Maaskant

Martijn Maaskant of Rabobank's Continental team, who is currently leading the Europe Tour rankings, will be leaving Rabobank at the end of the season; it was announced this week, to the irritation of team management. He chose not to stay with the Dutch team but accepted a "financially much more attractive offer" from a team which he has not yet named.

Theo de Rooij, team manager, said that he was "not amused" by the youngster's decision. "I find it shows little respect from the rider and manager to the team which has brought him to where he now is," according to the team's website, rabobank.nl. He said that he made the 23 year-old a "royal offer," but that "there is obviously another team which is willing to lay more money on the table for a neo-pro."

He added that he was irritated that another team would snap up a young rider after having nothing to do with his training. "We get to know our riders slowly. We invest a lot of money and time in training. That is worth a lot in the current state of cycling. When other teams take our young riders, they should at least compensate us for the training."