Christina Watches-Onfone risks losing licence

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The future of the Christina Watches-Onfone team is in doubt after the Danish Cycling Union deemed its application for Continental status in 2013 to be incomplete. The DCU has given the team until midday on Wednesday to submit full details of its accounts for 2011, which it requires in order to endorse the Christina Watches application before the UCI.

“I don’t know what’s wrong. We submitted our accounts but the DCU does not think they are adequate,” Christina Watches CEO Claus Hembo told Sporten.dk.

Sporten notes that Christina Watches-Onfone is not managed by a separate holding company, but rather is part of the Christina Design company. The DCU requires accounts specific to the team, rather than those of its sponsor, in order to demonstrate its viability.

“The board of the national federation has twice looked at the accounts submitted by Christina Watches-Onfone and the board has not been able to accept them,” Danish federation president Jesper Worre said. “The team knows what to the deliver but they’re not doing it. We have specified what needs to be sent to us, and they have until next Wednesday to do so.”

For his part, Hembo said that the team, which is led by Michael Rasmussen – who served a two-year ban for whereabouts violations in the run-up to the 2007 Tour de France – will not continue in any form if it does not secure a licence. “If we don’t find out before Wednesday, there will be no team,” Hembo said.