Belkin to withdraw sponsorship from team at end of 2014

Belkin, the consumer electronics company that is the title sponsor of the Netherlands-based ProTeam, announced Tuesday that it would stop its pro cycling sponsorship at the end of 2014.

By the end of 2014 Belkin will exit pro cycling as the title sponsor of the Belkin Pro Cycling Team,” said Mike Duin of Belkin in a release. “Belkin entered into cycling last year with the aim to increase brand awareness and subsequently sales revenue. While initial brand awareness results increased for the Belkin brand throughout Europe, the company strategy is to be more globally focused for all of the Belkin International brands: Belkin, WeMo and Linksys.”

“It is unfortunate that this new collaboration is not going to be extended,” said Richard Plugge, managing director of the Belkin Pro Cycling. “We will now start an intensive search for a new sponsor to be able to continue the journey that we started. We have full confidence in the future and expect to appear with a new sponsor on the shirt at the start of the 2015 season. We are a Dutch pro cycling team with an international image and WorldTour status, therefore we expect to find a new title sponsor. We were already in conversation with additional sponsors and still have sponsorship opportunities open for the upcoming Tour de France.”

Belkin became the title sponsor of the team just ahead of 2013’s Tour de France. The electronics company took the place of Rabobank, the Dutch financial institution that backed the team from 1996 to 2012. It pulled its support for the men’s pro team shortly after the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s release of its report on Lance Armstrong and the doping practices on the U.S. rider’s teams.