体坛英语新闻：Rabo Cycling presents ambitions, women's team

UTRECHT, the Netherlands, Dec. 6(Xinhua) -- The Rabo Cycling teams for 2012 were presented on Tuesday at the head-quarters of sponsor Rabobank in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Besides the Pro Team, the Continental Team and the Offroad Team, a women's team, was added.

The new women's team was built around Dutch cycling star Marianne Vos, who won Olympic gold on the points race on track during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Since the points race is not part of the 2012 Games, Vos will focus on the road race and the time trial in London. Another main goal of hers is the World Championships cycling in the Dutch province of Limburg (September 15-23, 2012).

"It's really important to be part of a big organization now," Vos told Xinhua. "Everything is very well organized. All the combined knowhow will have so many benefits, they know so many details, we can work with the best materials and learn from each other.

"I hope it's going to make our team better, but it will also take women's cycling to another level. At the moment I think Rabobank is the only one with all those teams combined. That makes it unique."

Former cyclist Erik Breukink is technical director of the Rabo Cycling teams. Regarding the Pro Team, which consists of 27 riders, he has high expectations, despite Oscar Freire, Pieter Weening and Sebastian Langeveld having left the team.

Mark Renshaw, Jetse Bol and Wilco Kelderman are the new faces. Breuking expects improvement from talented Dutch riders Robert Gesink (25), Bauke Mollema (25), Steven Kruijswijk (24) and Lars Boom (25).

"We have a big team with riders for different goals," Breukink said. "Some riders will go for the classics, we want to win a big classic, some riders will go for the big tours.

"The most important race is the Tour de France, in which we are aiming for a stage win and good general classifications. With Gesink and Mollema we already have two guys who proved themselves. Kruijswijk already finished ninth in the Giro d'Italia.

"Another big goal is the World Championships in our own country, with a new event, the team time trial," he said.