Armstrong dope fall-out

The world of cycling suffered a major blow yesterday as Rabobank said it would stop sponsoring professional cycling at the end of this year, in the wake of the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) report on the use of banned substances in the sport.

"We are no longer convinced that the international professional world of cycling can make this a clean and fair sport," the Dutch bank's chief financial officer, Bert Bruggink, said as he announced the end of its 17-year backing.

"We are not confident that this will change for the better in the foreseeable future," a statement quoted him as saying. Rabobank said the "inevitable" decision came following the USADA report on Lance Armstrong which was published last week and put the seven-time Tour de France winner at the heart of the biggest doping programme in the history of sport.u00a0