Rabobank director De Rooij steps down

By Theo Ruizenaar

ROTTERDAM (Reuters) - Theo de Rooij has stepped down as general director of the Rabobank cycling team who sacked Danish rider Michael Rasmussen during the Tour de France.

In a statement on Friday the team sponsored by the Dutch financial services group said the disappointment of this year's Tour was the reason De Rooij had resigned.

"This farewell is hard, really hard. The team -- it is all the world to me. But I did not see another choice," De Rooij was quoted as saying on Rabobank's Web site (www.rabobank.nl)

Rasmussen was overall leader of the Tour when he was sacked by Rabobank on July 25 after lying to them about his training whereabouts in June, an allegation the Dane denied.

Rabobank said in a statement that De Rooij wanted time to consider his future, a decision it understood and respected.

"When Theo called me at the end of the afternoon it surprised me. I didn't expect him to make such a quick decision," Rabobank's team manager Erik Breukink was quoted as saying by the ANP news agency.

De Rooij has been involved with the Rabobank Cycling Team since it was founded in October 1995. He became director general in 2004 having moved up from being a team leader.

Under De Rooij Rabobank won six world titles, 81 national championships, 10 World Cup Classics and 27 stages in the three grand tours. "His contribution to a total number of 1,738 victories was a crucial one," said the Rabobank statement.

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