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Euskaltel confirms team to fold at the end of the season as search for co-sponsor ends

No replacement sponsor found to plug shortfall of Basque institutions' cash; riders being released from contract...

Euskaltel-Euskadi has confirmed that in the absence of securing a co-sponsor, the UCI WorldTour team will fold at the end of the season, a victim of the ongoing financial crisis in Spain.

According to the Bilbao-based newspaper El Correo, the team’s staff were made aware of the withdrawal of support yesterday by the foundation that manages it, which had been set up by sponsor Euskaltel, the region's telephone operator.

That was confirmed by the team in a statement published on its website today in Spanish and Basque, which opened with the following bullet points:

- The entrance of a second sponsor, essential to ensure the sustainability of the cycling team, has not happened, making it impractical for the team to continue in 2014

- From this moment, Euskaltel is initiating an orderly shutdown and project management, including immediate negotiations on the release of team members

- Today is a sad day for Euskaltel, for the team, for current sponsors, for the fans and to all those who have supported this project. We regret that no company or entity has decided to back this team, the doyen of the cycling world's elite

- The company began searching for a new sponsor after becoming aware of the inability of the [Basque region’s] institutions to cover their share of the budget, both in our area and abroad, since Euskaltel alone can not support the project, which involves a minimum contribution of 7 million euros

- The team shall complete the 2013 sporting calendar.

The UCI is said by El Correo to have already been informed of the forthcoming disbandment of the team, which followed unsuccessful negotiations with potential sponsors from abroad.

The decision to pull the plug was reported by the newspaper to be partly due to enabling riders – who had wanted the situation resolved one way or another ahead of the Vuelta starting on Saturday – to find alternative employment ahead of the 2014 season.

Signatures of some of the team’s top riders, such as former Olympic champion and Tour de France mountains classification winner, Samuel Sanchez, as well as the likes of Mikel Nieve, Igor Anton, and the brothers Jon and Gorka Izagirre, are bound to be coveted by other teams.

Sadly, there has been a certain inevitability about the chain of events that has led to the team being wound up.

During the Tour de France in July, the team announced that its previous funding model was unsustainable as the regional and provincial governments that previously supported it were forced to cut their spending as a result of the financial crisis.

Euskaltel, whose sponsorship made up €3.5 million of the team’s €9 million budget this year, provided additional funding to try and meet the shortfall, but is unable to sustain that level of additional spending in the future, and the search for a foreign co-sponsor has proved fruitless.

News of the team’s demise has being met with sadness by fans and observers of the sport in both the Basque region – from where it exclusively recruited riders until last year – and beyond.

Partly that’s because of the unique character of an outfit so strongly associated with that area, which historically spans both sides of the border between France and Spain where the Pyrenees meet the Atlantic.

Founded in 1994 by the autonomous Spanish region’s government under the name Euskadi-Petronor – the first part of the name is ‘the Basque Country’ in that language, the oldest spoken in Europe – local telecommunications firm Euskaltel came on board as co-sponsor ahead of the 1998 season.

The disappearance of the team also deprives the sport of one of its most familiar sights over the past two decades – the orange jerseys it has worn since the outset, colours also sported by the wildly passionate fans who cram the ascents in the Pyrenees whenever the Tour de France or Vuelta visits the area.

Doubtless they will still do that – but without their ‘own’ team to cheer on, and those swathes of orange, it won’t be quite the same, and many will feel that the sport will be the poorer for it.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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18 comments

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ragtimecyclist | 10 years ago
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Spoke to soon?....Good lad Fernando!

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dave atkinson | 10 years ago
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breaking news today: looks like fernando alonso will be buying up the license and building a team round sanchez

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ragtimecyclist | 10 years ago
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This is such a shame - call me an old fashioned romantic but I love the idea of a team full of local heros - seems the grim reality of the Spanish economy has put an end to that.

There are still teams like Caja Rural which are Basque through and through - how long until they have to compromise their principles to stay afloat?

The pro-tour will be poorer for the loss of Euskaltel-Euskadi.

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yenrod | 10 years ago
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Sánchez looks like a wax-doll in that picture ?

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ratattat | 10 years ago
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Sad but teams need sponsors and sponsors don't like the doping scandals within the sport . Maybe when the economic climate picks up and cycling looks cleaner teams will be able to find new sponsors.

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a.jumper | 10 years ago
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End of an era. Wish I had a few million for this and a women's team. Surprised they couldn't pick up some Dutch orange sponsors somehow if vacansoleil are going.

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alg | 10 years ago
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Anyone want to buy a nice new Orca in orange and black ? - matching jersey now unavailable.
This is very sad - one of the most recognisable and characterful outfits on the major tours.
The national or regional roots of the teams is one of the things which marks cycling out as unique in modern sports - it would be desperately sad to loose those identities completely to the fickle world of commerce

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timothy | 10 years ago
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why not ask the Spanish PM, allegedly his party have a fund they can no longer use for other things.

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Jon Burrage | 10 years ago
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Its a shame, I can see the pro tour getting quite dull soon. Hope Argos Shimano and other smaller teams hang around.

You can just see it though, everyone on spesh or trek and everyone in white/blue/black.

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sidesaddle | 10 years ago
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Wonder if someone in Gibraltar has some spare cash  19

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RTB | 10 years ago
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The orange may be going but at least Sammy Sanchez's gold lame shoes will live on.

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RuthF28 | 10 years ago
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Great shame, I shall miss seeing them (not least because that colour is so easy to pick out).

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cisgil23 | 10 years ago
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I'd have thought an approach to the Qatari government might have born fruit, even if that would have meant using the second-string team as a nursery for riders from that region. After all, they're investing in many other sports.

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Ghedebrav | 10 years ago
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Not a suprise, but very sad to see.

If I won the Euromillions I'd be tempted to be a white (or orange) knight. Some cracking riders there, wonder where they'll end up? Buyers' market for pro-cyclists at the mo.

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Stumps | 10 years ago
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What a shame, like the report says their tops stood out against the monotony of the greys, blacks and blues used by other teams.

I, for one, will miss the team.

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Some Fella | 10 years ago
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I hope this doesnt see the start of football-esque gulf between the uber rich teams funded by crooked media tycoons and russian gangsters and the more cuddly teams.
What with Vacansoleil unhitching their tents and going aswell there is going to be a big hole in the peloton next year. Arent Europcar ending their sponsorship too?

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mooleur replied to Some Fella | 10 years ago
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Some Fella wrote:

I hope this doesnt see the start of football-esque gulf between the uber rich teams funded by crooked media tycoons and russian gangsters and the more cuddly teams.

Urgh, agreed! >.<

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Gkam84 replied to Some Fella | 10 years ago
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Some Fella wrote:

I hope this doesnt see the start of football-esque gulf between the uber rich teams funded by crooked media tycoons and russian gangsters and the more cuddly teams.
What with Vacansoleil unhitching their tents and going aswell there is going to be a big hole in the peloton next year. Arent Europcar ending their sponsorship too?

There is already a gulf between teams, with BMC and SKY having massive budgets.

Vacansoleil are looking at dropping to Continental level for a while to see if they can manage to run a team at that level, but will be taking a year out for.

Europcar are safe enough, I think they are just looking for a boost of another sponsor to get up to the world tour level. They looked at it last year and decided to stay Continental

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