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Aqua Blue Sport says it won't be racing in 2019

Irish Professional Continental outfit cites failed merger with Verandas Willems-Crelan and lack of wild card invites to big races

Irish UCI Professional Continental team Aqua Blue Sport says it will not be applying for a renewal of its licence and therefore will not be racing in 2019 following the failure of a planned merger with the Belgian outfit, Verandas Willems-Crelan.

Earlier this month, Aqua Blue Sport announced that it had acquired Sniper Cycling, the latter team’s management company together with the contract of its star rider, cyclo-cross world champion Wout Van Aert, though Sniper denied that any such deal had been reached.

Aqua Blue Sport, set up by businessman Rick Delaney, had hoped to be “the world’s self-sustained cycling team,” financed through revenue from its online marketplace that brings together independent brands and retailers.

In its debut year, 2017, it received a wild card invitation to the Vuelta where it enjoyed a stage win courtesy of the Austrian rider, Stefan Denifl. The same year saw Larry Warbasse take a stage at the Tour de Suisse as well as the US national championships.

The team was unable to secure wild car place for major races including the three Grand Tours this year, however, something it highlighted in a statement posted to Twitter this morning confirming it would not be seeking a licence for next year.

"We, Aqua Blue Sport, started this project over two years ago with huge ambition, gusto and optimism that we could actually make a difference,” the statement began. “This year we have found it increasingly difficult to obtain race invitations and recognition from race organisers in how unique and how well supported our project should be.”

The statement addressed the proposed merger with Verandas Willems-Crelan, saying: "Aqua Blue Sport cycling team have been negotiating tirelessly with another Pro Continental team regarding an acquisition/partnership.

“Over the past weeks we had formed the basis of an agreement many times, but unfortunately common sense did not prevail. We believed on numerous occasions that the deal was so far advanced that it was a foregone conclusion that a partnership would be achieved.

“Today, August 27, 2018, we now find ourselves in a position where we can categorically state that all negotiations have been terminated."

The statement continued: "We are extremely proud of our achievements over the past two seasons and made history in being Ireland’s first professional cycling team, first Irish team to participate in a Grand Tour and first Irish team to win a stage at a Grand Tour. We have had the pleasure of making many friends on the journey.

"I guess it’s fair to say that we have made some fundamental mistakes, and errors of judgement, ultimately bringing our ‘on road’ ambitions to an unfortunate end.

“We are, of course, not going to give up with our passion of becoming a sustainable cycling team and will continue to grow and develop our e-commerce platform to enable us to return to the road unshackled sometime in the future.”

Aqua Blue Sport added: "We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those who have supported both our e-commerce website and our cycling team."

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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5 comments

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muhasib | 5 years ago
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Glancing at the rider profile pics on their site I thought they had their hands in prayer, shame on their demise as the actual kit looked quite good as cycling designs go.

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atlaz | 5 years ago
0 likes

Everyone is saying the team members (both riders and staff) found out about this on Twitter. If true, I think he'll struggle to come back again.

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simonmb | 5 years ago
2 likes

Hardly a surprise to see the project fail when they've got Ollie as their IT manager. Will folks never learn?

https://www.aquabluesport.com/the-team

Hopefully we'll see Rick back in a new guise. Passion for cycling, such as Rick's, should never be outside the sport for long.

Avatar
atlaz | 5 years ago
1 like

I can’t imagine that slamming your bike sponsor publicly helped much with getting people onboard with the program. Oddly their online marketplace didn’t really have a great range either. Seems like a good try just a bit short of the mark in some respects. 

 

Still, shame they’re not carrying on, it’s nice to have people who try something different. 

Avatar
darrenleroy | 5 years ago
0 likes

And just when the team had ditched 1x to revert to a 2x set-up. Thanks for trying to be different.

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