Although both parties agreed not to speak with the media about the ongoing negotiations its an open secret that Thomas Dekker and Rabobank will part ways, probebly by the end of this week.

Dekker and Rabobank's team manager Harold Knebel continued their negotiations accompanied by their attorney's earlier this week. Dekker's attorney, Hans van Oijen told sportwereld.nl: "The negotiations about the future of my client with Rabobank have come into the final stage."

Rabobanks attorney, Eric Vilé expects that both parties will reach an agreement by the end of this week. Both parties agreed not to give any statement about the content of the discussions.

Insiders say that Rabobank and Dekker will part ways with immediate effect by the end of this week and that Dekker will sign with the US Garmin team, possibly also with immediate effect.

Rabobank decided earlier this month that the 23 year old talent will not race for the team anymore for the time that the negotiations continue. The relation between Dekker and Rabobank was never easy and escalated after the team management decided not to select Dekker for last months Tour de France.

Dekker decided that he would not start at the Olympic Games in Beijing. Dekker was supposed to start at the Olympic road race and today's timetrial.

Last month Dutch daily newspaper the Volkskrant reported that Rabobank was informed by the UCI that Dekker had 'unusual' blood parameters before the Tour de Suisse. Rabobank and Dekker both said that the problems between both parties have nothing to do with the unusual blood parameters. Dekker received a letter from the UCI that he is allowed to race (To read the letter, download  the PDF document at the bottom of this page).

Thomas Dekker often shared rooms with Michael Boogerd during the 2007 season. Boogerd retired after the 2007 season and released a statement today that he will leave Rabobank with immediate effect. Boogerd did public relations work for the Dutch team after his retirement and thanked the sponsor and the team for this oportunity but that he did not enjoy his new job. Boogerd will now work as a comment cycling races for Belgian tv station Sporza.