Belkin appeals to public for crowd-funded sponsorship

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Belkin is on the hunt for a new sponsor, after it was announced that their title sponsor would be pulling out at the end of this season. The announcement was only made two days ago, but the team have already decided to take matters into their own hands in the hope to secure their future and their key riders.

The Dutch team have set up a PayPal account where fans can donate 10 euros to help fund the team.

"The Belkin Pro Cycling Team has started an immediate search for a new title sponsor. As of 2015, Belkin will withdraw from the Belkin team as sponsor. We are confident that we will find a new sponsor in time, but we want to take things into our own hands via crowd funding," a statement on the team’s website reads.

"With your support we can finance a part of the team and show potential sponsors that we have loyal supporters we can count on. This offers stability, which will make it more likely for sponsors to join our team."

Belkin are in the precarious position where they could lose their top riders if they are unable to secure a new sponsor. General classification rider Bauke Mollema has already been linked with Tinkoff-Saxo.

Team manager Richard Plugge told Cyclingnews earlier this week that he may have to run the team on a reduced budget.