Long-term cycling sponsor Saxo Bank has announced it "will not be renewing its partnership with the Tinkoff team" in '16, ending an eight-year association with the outfit, according to Stuart Clarke of CYCLING WEEKLY. The decision "comes as little surprise," as the team requested a WorldTour license simply under the name Tinkoff for next season, with rumors that the Danish Bank "would pull out circulating for months." Saxo Bank had a long-running relationship with Bjarne Riis, who sold the team to Oleg Tinkov ahead of the '14 season, but the Dane was "effectively sacked from managing the team" during the '15 season. Saxo Bank remains a sponsor of the Lotus F1 team (CYCLING WEEKLY, 10/15). VELO NEWS' Gregor Brown reported Saxo Bank's "sponsorship contract expired" this '15 season. There were "reports that it might continue," but "that possibility is over." Tinkov had bought the team from the 1996 Tour de France winner in Dec. '13 for around $8M, "but fell out with him this spring." Officially, they "mutually terminated" the contract. Tinkov's team used the "same polite wording when it jettisoned coaches Bobby Julich and Dan Healey." The "brash" Tinkov said this summer that he "does not need a co-sponsor to continue." But in the Vuelta, he was "trying to sort out a deal to continue the agreement." What "is true is that the value of Russia's ruble has plummeted over the last year." It has created questions about "how Tinkov can afford to pay for his riders' salaries" (VELO NEWS, 10/15).
