Belkin appeals for crowdfunding

Two days after Belkin announced that they will be pulling the plug on their team sponsorship at the end of the season the team have decided to appeal to fans for funding. The Dutch team have invited fans to donate €10 in the hope that this will alert potential sponsors to the loyalty of the team’s supporters.

A statement on the team’s fan page said, “We are confident that we will find a new sponsor in time, but we want to take things into our own hands via crowd funding. With your support we can finance a part of the team and show potential sponsors that we have loyal supporters we can count on. This offers stability, which will make it more likely for sponsors to join our team.”

Mollema and Kelderman to Tinkoff-Saxo?

However it appears that few Belkin riders are willing to wait around, with Bauke Mollema and Wilco Kelderman the first of the squad’s riders to be linked with another team. Tinkoff-Saxo are rumoured to be in pursuit of the Dutch GC men, with team owner Oleg Tinkov telling De Telegraaf that he had been in talks with Mollema, but that he was not happy with the offer on the table.

"I was called to see if I was interested in Mollema. He’s definitely a good rider but the amount offered is too high. If a decent proposal comes then I’d be interested. The same applies to Wilco Kelderman. He is a great talent that I’d like to have."

In meantime Mollema looks set to lead Belkin at the Tour de France, where he finished sixth in 2013, while Kelderman is set for a period of rest after finishing seventh in the Giro d’Italia and fourth in the Criterium du Dauphiné.

David Millar’s home burgled

One rider who enjoyed less luck at the Dauphiné was David Millar, who returned home from the race to find that thieves had broken into his house. The Garmin-Sharp rider, who lives in Girona and is in his final year as a professional rider, lost many of his career souvenirs as well as computers, televisions, and watches, including one given to Millar by Mark Cavendish after the latter’s victory in the 2011 World Championships.

Matteo Trentin wins stage 6 of Tour de Suisse

Omega Pharma-Quickstep continued their rich vein of form at the Tour de Suisse as Matteo Trentin took the team’s third stage win of the race, taking the bunch sprint ahead of Daniele Bennati (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Francesco Gavazzi (Astana) after a fantastic leadout by race leader Tony Martin. The team’s fortunes had looked less rosy 25km earlier when Mark Cavendish was dropped on the penultimate climb of the day as Sky set a ferocious pace in support of Ben Swift. However Trentin was put in a perfect position by Martin, who pulled him clear of Peter Sagan (Cannondale) in the final kilometre.

Kittel fastest in Ster ZLM Toer

Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) took the first road stage of the Ster ZLM Toer, sprinting clear of Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) and Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) at the finish in Sint Willebrord. Bonus seconds meant that Kittel also moved into the overall lead at the expense of Philippe Gilbert, who finished in the same time in twelfth.

Tour de Wallonie route announced

The town of Mouscron hosted the announcement of the route of the 2014 Tour de Wallonie. The 2.HC race which has been won by Greg Van Avermaet for two of the last three years will consist of five stages and will begin in Frasnes-lez-Anvaing on 26th July. The race should be decided with the difficult final stage into Ans which includes two first category climbs and one second category climb in the final 20km.