Contador's team lose key sponsor Saxo Bank

Two-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador's elite cycling team Tinkoff-Saxo has lost its sponsor Saxo Bank, as the Danish online traders announced they would sever ties on Thursday.

The team also features the crowd pleasing superstar Peter Sagan, who is the  world road race champion, but with the firing of Danish team manager Bjarne Riis in March, fears Saxo Bank would end its sponsorship developed into reality.

"It has been a privilege working with the team over the past eight seasons and we are extremely proud of the numerous successes we have achieved together during this time," co-chief executives Lars Seier Christensen and Kim Fournais said in a statement.

"We would like to thank both the current team as well as the heroes from the past, from Bjarne Riis over Alberto Contador, Peter Sagan, the Schleck Brothers, Fabian Cancellara, Carlos Sastre to Matti Breschel, Chris Anker Sorensen and all the other riders," they added.

Riis won the 1996 Tour de France as a rider but would later admit to having doped during his career, including the year he won the Grand Boucle.

The squad, whose history can be traced back to 1998 with with the creation of Team Home-Jack and Jones, was sold by Riis to Russian millionaire Oleg Tinkov in December 2013.

Tinkov recently said he was willing to sell the team for the right price.

Source: AFP