Riis Cycling is looking for a new co-title sponsor for its Danish-based UCI World Tour squad Team Saxo-Tinkoff after negotiations to extend its agreement with Russia’s Tinkoff Bank broke down.
Tinkoff currently shares title sponsorship of Team Saxo-Tinkoff, which topped the team classification at the recently completed Tour de France, with Danish investment firm Saxo Bank.
Last week, Saxo announced an extension to its backing of the team through 2014 and declared “a definitive agreement with our Russian friend,” despite Tinkoff founder Oleg Tinkoff expressing his desire to gain sole sponsorship earlier in the month.
However, team owner Bjarne Riis has denied such an agreement before confirming the search for Tinkoff’s replacement would begin immediately. Tinkoff Bank began its co-sponsorship last summer.
He said: “During the course of our extensive negotiations with Tinkoff Bank it has become clear that we are unable to settle on common views and the ideas that are necessary for our partnership to grow and be successful for both parties beyond 2013.”
Riis added: “Most importantly, we disagree on how the team should be run. For all of these reasons, I have decided to explore other possibilities and end the negotiations with Tinkoff Bank.”