Following a review of this summer’s firing of Tour de France leader Michael Rasmussen, the financial services firm that sponsors the Rabobank cycling team has announced a series of management changes and established new medical requirements for riders.

In response to the "Vogelzang report," the executive board of the Netherlands’ Rabobank Group has appointed one of the bank’s senior executives to oversee operations on the cycling team that bears its name.

Harold Knebel, currently Rabobank’s director of private banking, is slated to take the position of general managing director of the cycling program in March. Knebel’s position will include full management authority over the team and its programs, allowing him to make decisions currently made by a three-member oversight board, that included former manager Theo de Rooy and director Erik Breukink.

Breukink, will continue as the Rabobank squad’s “first team leader,” – a capacity similar to that of director - but will no longer serve as a member of the now disbanded three-member panel. Van der Aat will step down as general manager when Knebel takes that job, but will continue as the team’s international relations director.

The shake-up comes in the wake of this summer’s Tour de France when Rabobank fired Rasmussen while wearing the yellow jersey just four days shy of a likely victory. Rasmussen was terminated over alleged discrepancies in reports of his whereabouts during critical, pre-Tour testing windows for surprise anti-doping controls.

The Rabobank Group team hired a private consultant this summer to review team policies following the expulsion of Rasmussen. De Rooy, the man who made the firing decision, stepped down as team manager, but Breukink continued as sport director.

Earlier this month, Rasmussen said he lied for personal reasons about being in Mexico in June when anti-doping controllers couldn't find him in Europe. He also claimed that Breukink and De Rooy knew of – and approved of – his whereabouts.

The committee reviewing the matter concluded that the team was correct in firing Rasmussen, but questioned their decision to allow the Danish rider to start the race in the first place. The report concluded that the team's board actually knew of Rasmussen's missed tests and his travel plans, and "made an error of judgment" by not reporting those facts to the team's sponsor.

"It is patently obvious from the information known now that Rasmussen should not have been allowed to start in the Tour de France," the report noted.

The panel went on to recommend changes in the team’s internal doping control program and the establishment of strict notification requirements for riders planning to travel for training or for personal reasons.

Rabobank’s board accepted those recommendations and began implementation of most on Tuesday.

“These changes are connected with the conclusions and recommendations of the Vogelzang Committee,” a Rabobank statement noted. “Rabobank is committed through these revisions to bringing about a change of culture within its own team and to contributing towards the realisation of structural improvements within the international sport of cycling. Enhanced whereabouts systems and more intensive health and doping tests constitute an integral part of the revised structure.”