Saur-Sojasun pose for their team photo at the start of Scheldeprijs(Image credit: Sirotti)
French team Saur Sojasun starts in Liege(Image credit: Sonja Csury)
The Saur Sojasun mechanics set up shop in a bus stop(Image credit: BikeRadar)
Saur - Sojasun on the attack(Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Team Sojasun will stop at the end of this season, after late negotiations with a possible sponsor ended and the deadline for registration with UCI approached. According to L'Equipe, the official announcement will be made later today.
Team manager and former pro rider Stephane Heulot has already told his riders that the team will fold. He had hoped up to the last minute for good news but with the UCI deadline for teams to pay their first deposits on October 1 looming, he ran out of time.
Heulot created the team as an amateur club, SuperSport 35, in 2002, and it gradually moved up in the ranks from Continental to Professional Continental. It reached that level under the name Besson Chaussures-Sojasun in 2009, becoming Saur-Sojasun for 2010 to 2012. Sojasun was sole sponsor this year.
The team received wild-card invitations to the Tour de France in 2011, 2012 and 2013. It had its biggest success in 2011 when Jerome Coppel finished 13th overall in the Tour de France.
This season the team has won five races. Maxime Daniel won a stage at the Volta a Portugal, and Jimmy Engoulvent the prologue of the Tour de Luxembourg. Jonathan Hivert was the best rider this season, taking two stages at the Vuelta a Andalucia and the overall title at the Etoile de Besseges.
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