In the calm period after the end of the cycling season there's actually some news about Dutch cycling ... about the new manager for the Rabobank cycling team, about the rider of the year election and about Michael Boogerd being distinguished!
UPDATE 27 November: the new manager of the Rabobank cycling team has now been officially announced.

The new manager of the Rabobank cycling team won't be someone from the cycling world

Since the end of the Tour, the Rabobank cycling team officially didn't have a general manager any more. Indeed, after the Rasmussen case in the Tour de France, the former general manager Theo de Rooij resigned early August just after he came back in The Netherlands.
Since then, Henri van der Aat is the interim manager of the team and since the Vogelzang committee published its report on the Rasmussen case it's now time to appoint a new general manager.

A spokesman of Rabobank, a Dutch bank, is reported to have told the press that the person replacing Theo de Rooij would not be someone who's known in the cycling world.

The Dutch press agency ANP indicated Harold Knebel, the current director 'private banking' at Rabobank, would be this new manager.

UPDATE 27 November: the Rabobank cycling team today officially announced on Rabo Sport TV that Harold Knebel will indeed be the new manager from March 1st, 2008.
In the mean time Harold Knebel will start collaborating with the current interim manager, Henri van der Aat, in order to get the necessary basic knowledge before the start of the new cycling season. Henri van der Aat will completely focus on his own sports and leisure marketing company, Trefpunt, again from March 2008.

The interview below is in Dutch and presents Harold Knebel as an outsider in cycling world whose profile perfectly corresponds to the profile described in the report publish by the Vogelzang committee.
Henri van der Aat announced in an interview on Rabo Sport TV that based on the report of the Vogelzang committee several measures will be taken, especially concerning a better verification of the riders' whereabouts and an internal anti-doping programme in which all riders will be checked 2 to 3 times a month.

Lars Boom elected cyclist of the year

Against all expectations, Lars Boom (21 years old, a rider for the Espoirs at Rabobank) has been elected rider of the year during the 'cyclist gala' in Den Bosch (in the south of The Netherlands) based on a vote by a club of former cyclists (the Club of 48) and the readers of the Dutch magazine Wieler Magazine.

Lars Boom got this prize for winning the world championships cyclo-cross and time trial for Espoirs, for winning the Dutch championships cyclo-cross elite and for winning some other races ...

In this election he beats for example Stef Clement, Theo Bos, Thomas Dekker and even Michael Boogerd.

Robert Gesink has won the same prize for talents and Marianne Vos for women.

Michael Boogerd distinguished

To continue on news related to Rabobank, Michael Boogerd - the Rabobank rider who retired at the end of this cycling season - has been distinguished twice over the last few days ...First of all, during the presentation of his biography Boogie (written by the Dutch journalist Maarten Scholten in collaboration with Michael), Michael has been distinguished with the title member of honour of the Dutch cycling federation (Koninklijke Nederlandse Wielren Unie, KNWU). Michael joined a very selective group with this title since the KNWU doesn't hand out this title very often ... Joop Zoetemelk, Gerrie Knetemann and Leontien van Moorsel are some of the other Dutch cyclists who got this title before.

The second distinction for Michael Boogerd came today when he was decorated as a Companion of the Order of Orange-Nassau during the 'cyclist gala'.

During his career Boogerd has won two Tour de France stages, finished fifth in the overall ranking of the Tour de France 1998, once won the Amstel Gold Race and stood several times on the podium for this same race and for Liège-Bastogne-Liège over the last ten years. Finally Boogerd has won the Dutch championships three times.

So far for some news about Dutch cycling ... I could as well have called it news about the Rabobank cycling team ;-)

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Cycling general (except Tour de France) | Tour de France

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