The future of the French B&B Hotels ProTeam will be decided by the end of the month, with Jérôme Pineau recognising his team is in "great danger" but clinging to hope he can pull some sponsors out of the hat at the last minute.
Back in July, Pineau set out ambitious plans for the second-division French team he created in 2018, with the city of Paris and other major sponsors expected to expand the 'project' that would also create a women's team and a development squad.
However, despite appearing to strike agreements with a number of riders, chief among them Mark Cavendish, with the idea of the Manxman targeting the Tour de France stage win record in 2023, nothing has materialised.
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The initial deadline for registering teams for the new season came and went in mid-October, before a planned team presentation in Paris was scrapped with a day's notice. Now Pineau has had to ask for special dispensation from the UCI and the DNCG (the teams regulatory body in France) for an extended final cut-off point of November 30.
"If we're still waiting for a response on November 15, we can say our future is under threat," Pineau admitted to French newspaper L'Equipe in a rare interview.
"We're behind schedule but I'm going to keep believing until the final minute of the final day. It could be the start of something else or the end of everything."
Pineau remained tight-lipped as the uncertainty intensified through the autumn, but has now set out in more detail the precarious situation his team finds itself in.
Although the deal with B&B Hotels remains in place, and there is still apparently "close collaboration" with the City of Paris, it emerged in the summer that Paris would only be lending its name and not any money. More crucially, links with major companies such as Amazon and Carrefour have yet to come to fruition.
Blaming "social and ecumenic instability", Pineau confirmed that he has no new money in place, and faces a mad scramble over the next 10 days.
"Right now, we're still waiting. We've contacted the relevant authorities, French and international, to inform them of our need to have another 15 days to present a solid dossier. We have until November 30 to present a complete, official dossier with the corresponding budget," he said.
"We've set up meetings with a view to a final decision with five companies who are following our project. We're awaiting concrete responses on November 21, 27, and 28. These are very serious leads with which I've had a lot of contact. We're hoping for positive responses so we can put in place what we set out in July."
The team's future is very much up in the air, and there is a very real possibility it could disappear altogether. Earlier this week Italian rider Luca Mozzato said he was unconcerned because, as he saw it, the team would at least continue in its current guise. However, Pineau appeared to contradict that view.
Clinging to hope for his three-squad set-up, he did acknowledge he "could not rule out having to adapt and work a scaled-down project", but indicated this is still reliant on successful outcomes with new backers.
"If the five leads come to nothing, we are then in great danger and the team might not survive," he stated.
"The budget from the partners already on board would not be enough to progress at the level we hope. If tomorrow I have to present the DNCG and UCI with only the contracts from B&B Hotels and those loyal technical partners, I could not present a viable plan to do another series at ProTeam level."
That leaves the whole roster of current riders in limbo, as well as any potential new recruits. Riders are free to sign elsewhere beyond the mid-October UCI registration deadline but so far "none have jumped ship" according to Pineau.
Meanwhile, Cavendish, winner of 34 Tour de France stage wins and keen to take the record outright from Eddy Merckx next year, is even less sure of his future. Yet he appears to have stayed loyal to Pineau.
"If I hadn't been in contact with Mark and if he didn't believe in our project, he would have already signed elsewhere," Pineau said, acknowledging contact with Manxman for the first time.
"He's one of the people who want to be part of this team. I want that too, but he knows well that, at this point in time, he's not yet part of it. He is behind us and he's with us every step of the way. I can therefore not hide that he's part of our plans to reach the next level."
