Riders told they can find new teams for next season after sponsor withdraws
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Rigoberto Uran rides with his teammates of the US's Cannondale Drapac cycling team during the 165km 16th stage of the Tour de France
Cannondale-Garmin boss Jonathan Vaughters in early-2015(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale) leads a group up the climb.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Michael Woods (Cannondale-Drapac)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The combativity prize went to Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale-Drapac)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
American WorldTour squad Cannondale-Drapac are in limbo following the withdrawal of an expected sponsorship partner for 2018. For now, it is unclear whether the team will continue next season. The team have told Cyclingnews that they need to find in the region of $7 million USD in order to continue in 2018.
Following reports in Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf that Cannondale-Drapac riders and staff – including those with contracts beyond the 2017 season – were suddenly approaching other squads, the team released a statement Saturday evening on the future of Slipstream Sports, the holding company that owns Cannondale-Drapac.
"On Saturday morning, Slipstream Sports notified all riders and staff of the uncertainty of our organization's future. Yesterday management received some discouraging news about a new partner we anticipated joining us in 2018. Without this partner's support, we cannot guarantee our financial security and subsequently our UCI WorldTour license for 2017," read the statement.
"All Slipstream Sports staff have been released from any and all contractual obligations for 2018. All 2018 contracts will be honored if our future is secured.
As late as July, manager Jonathan Vaughters was expressing uncertainty about the team's future as he worked to secure sponsorship partners for 2018. However, on July 21 the team announced the arrival of Oath, a digital media company, as a new sponsor, and in the weeks that followed, the team announced multiple new contracts extending through 2018 and beyond. While Oath's commitment remains in place, an as of yet unknown sponsorship partner appears to have backed out of an expected deal for the coming season, leaving the team in limbo.
Cannondale Drapac 2017 roster in full:
Alberto Bettiol - recently signed for BMC Racing in 2018 Patrick Bevin - out of contract at the end of 2017 Nathan Brown - out of contract at the end of 2017 Brendan Canty - has a contract with the team for 2018 Hugh Carthy - has a contract with the team for 2018 William Clarke - out of contract at the end of 2017 Simon Clarke - out of contract at the end of 2017 Lawson Craddock - out of contract at the end of 2017 Joe Dombrowski - has a contract with the team for 2018 Davide Formolo - recently signed for Bora-Hansgrohe in 2018 Alex Howes - out of contract at the end of 2017 Kristijan Koren - recently signed for Bahrain-Merida in 2018 Sebastian Langeveld - has a contract with the team for 2018 Ryan Mullen - out of contract at the end of 2017 Taylor Phinney - has a contract with the team for 2018 Pierre Rolland - has a contract with the team for 2018 Thomas Scully - out of contract at the end of 2017 Toms Skujins - out of contract at the end of 2017 Tom Jelte Slagter - recently signed for Dimension Data in 2018 Andrew Talansky - has a contract with the team for 2018 Rigoberto Urán - recently signed a three year contract extension Tom Van Asbroeck - has a contract with the team for 2018 Dylan van Baarle - recently signed a two year contract extension Sep Vanmarcke - has a contract with the team for 2018 Davide Villella - recently signed for Astana Pro Team in 2018 Wouter Wippert - out of contract at the end of 2017 Michael Woods - out of contract at the end of 2017
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