Citing tough market conditions, cellphone giant MTN announced it was withdrawing its sponsorship of the minnow Qhubeka cycling team that stunned with top performances at this year's Tour de France. MTN had spent about R100-million sponsoring the professional cycling outfit since 2013, said Chris Maroleng, the company's group corporate affairs executive."Considering ... the tough operating environment in the telecommunications industry we've really had to reassess, not just the Qhubeka sponsorship, but a number of other engagements we feel don't have a return on that investment at the levels of comfort to us," he said.Contacted for comment, MTN-Qhubeka team principal Doug Ryder seemed surprised by the announcement but said the future of the team was secure."The team has many options going forward, huge interest as you can imagine, so the future of the team is incredible. There are no issues there."The team, which branded itself as an African unit, received a wild card entry into the 2015 Tour, but it punched well above its weight, with riders taking 14 top-10 finishes during the three-week race.It ended fifth in the team classification and rider Serge Pauwels of Germany finished 13th in the general classification.Eritrean Daniel Teklehaimanot held the King of the Mountains polka dot jersey for a few days, and Steve Cummins won a stage.Maroleng said MTN had communicated its decision to end the sponsorship after the tour ended on Sunday."We had indicated to them we are reconsidering our levels of engagement and then I think the actual communication was between our marketing guys post Tour de France to say actually we have now decided that we will be ending that partnership."He said it had been one of MTN's "largest consistent sponsorships", and pointed out the company had spent more than R200-million on corporate social investment projects across its 22 markets in Africa and the Middle East in the past financial year."It was a big deal to us to end our engagement with Qhubeka because it represented to us not just a South African brand, but also a Pan-African brand."Maroleng said MTN hoped the team, given its recent success, could acquire even more funding in the future...