The debacle caused by the withdrawal of Skyter as the new sponsor for the current Nürnberger Versicherung team has taken its first casualty with the retirement of Tina Liebig. Skyter was due to take over as the team’s sponsor, but withdrew last week after co-sponsors that it was relying on backed out.
The 29-year-old German recently signed for the team – along with compatriot Angela Hennig – after both having ridden for Marianne Vos’ DSB Bank team for two years. The uncertain future of the team has caused her decide to retire, according to Dutch website Wielermagazine.nl. She was offered a position with the tourist office of Mainz in the German Rhineland on December 1st and has now started work there.
Liebig won the World Junior championships in Valkenburg, the Netherlands in 1998, and spent most of her career specialising in hillier races and riding for others. She rode for Nürnberger Versicherung between 2004-2006, winning the 2004 Giro del Trentino and the 2005 Tour de Feminin-Krasna Lipa. In 2007 she signed for the short-lived Getranke Hoffmann and finished Fourth in the Giro di Toscana.
In 2008 she signed for DSB Bank where she has ridden in the service of team leader Marianne Vos; her best result was eighth overall in the 2009 Tour de l’Aude.
The future of the other 13 riders, and the team itself, is still uncertain.