'It's unfortunately the nature of life in this sport' – Riders and staff left in uncertainty react amid announcement of Arkéa-B&B Hotels' imminent end

After the news of Arkéa-B&B Hotels' imminent end was confirmed to riders and staff by team manager Emanuel Hubert on Wednesday, after 21 years in the professional peloton, some riders have been left without a confirmed future and could be forced into an earlier-than-planned retirement.

Among them is 27-year-old Michel Ries from Luxembourg, who is currently out in China racing at the Tour of Guangxi in one of the French squad's final-ever races. While the news for many Arkéa riders plunges them into uncertainty, Ries remained upbeat and said that this was the consensus among his teammates, even with the end nearing.

"I think we really have to say that nobody is really depressed about it, we have a really good atmosphere still, even if quite a few riders don't know what their future will be like," he told reporters at the start of stage 3 in Jingxi.

"The atmosphere is really nice still, and everybody is still motivated – it's not like nobody cares and is doing their own thing – that says a lot about the team that everybody still does what he has to do, and we are still enjoying our time, so that's good to see.

"For me personally, I don't know what my future will look like in cycling. I have nothing yet for next year. You don't know what you will be doing in the next month, so for now I'm still waiting, and it can be anything, maybe it could be my last cycling race also, the future is still open."

Arkéa's end was all but confirmed on October 15, as this is when Hubert's desperate search for a new sponsor, which would fill the hole in their budget and allow them to meet "the conditions required by the UCI", came to an end at the governing body's deadline. He told AFP simply: "I haven't submitted anything because I don't have anything."

The writing had been on the wall for months, though, meaning the riders and the staff were by no means blindsided by the news, which Ries praised Hubert for, in spite of the worst possible outcome materialising.

"I think we were always open with it, and everybody knew it would be complicated, if it's that late in the year," said Ries. "I think everybody was realistic enough to know that the chances were small that something would pop up for sure we still kept believing and we trusted Emanuel a lot that he would still find something.

"But everybody knows how difficult that was, and he was always open about it, about how things were standing, so he didn't tell us something that was not true, which we have to really respect. He was not telling us, 'We'll find something', and then in the end, we end up with nothing, so he was honest with us all the time. That's something you have to admire."

One of the team's sports directors out in Guangxi was similarly accepting of the news, knowing Hubert had left no stone unturned when it came to trying to replace title sponsors Arkéa and B&B Hotels. China may have been where they were when the end was confirmed, but they knew this was likely set to be their future.

"We already knew the situation was complicated for several months. Manu Hubert was searching for backers for the team for more than a year," said DS Sébastien Hinault to reporters.

"We were hoping for a reaction from a sponsor who was maybe hesitating, but you can see that the economic context isn't easy, and we couldn't find a sponsor to go again next year.

"We knew before we came here. He had told us that October 1 was the deadline, so we knew for some time that it was going to be complicated. All the possible lines closed off one by one, and unfortunately, the team has to stop."

A special atmosphere

Speaking just in front of their tent in Guangxi, after preparing for the stage as normal, both men couldn't help but comment on how much of a shame it was for the French WorldTour team to be disappearing, having been part of the camaraderie and culture there for a decade in Hinault's case and four years in Ries'.

"We're all in the situation together. It's not like it's just one guy, but all the team, the staff, and for a lot of people you don't know what you are doing, so we're talking a lot to each other, motivating each other," said Ries, who didn't single out a specific memory as a highlight from his time at Arkéa but instead focused on how the team was.

"If you speak together with your teammates also in the situation, it's way easier, and I think that's really positive. Even here in the evenings, a lot of teams go back to the rooms straight after dinner, but we are still together after dinner, playing cards. It's a special atmosphere in the team, and that's why it's also such a shame that the team is folding, because I think we had a really good group together."

"Since April, he [Hubert] told us that things weren't sure, and we could look elsewhere. What I'll take from this is that we have an extraordinary staff and we stuck together and worked very well together," said Hinault. "And that's also what makes this such a pity, because we have a really quality staff. It's a really, really nice team, and it's a shame to lose that.

"It's 150 people between the WorldTour, Continental and Women's teams. It's sad, but it's unfortunately the nature of life in this sport – you're reliant on sponsors."

The experienced DS also gave his opinion on the current state of sponsorship in the sport, which has proved a real issue for several teams in recent seasons, even if they are performing well, as Arkéa have in moments, such as Kévin Vauquelin's last two Tours de France of Luca Mozzato's podium finish in Flanders last season.

"It's worrying too, when you see that this has happened despite our very good results," said Hinault.

"Even though our budget wasn't among the biggest in the WorldTour, we got some very interesting results. We had some good results in plenty of places, but unfortunately, that wasn't enough to interest a sponsor."

Some riders, such as Mozzato and Vauquelin, did manage to secure new teams for the coming season, at Tudor and Ineos Grenadiers, but there aren't many places left to be filled across the WorldTour or even ProTeams.

"It's going to be difficult for a lot of people; there aren't a lot of spaces on other teams," said the DS.

"The budgets are bigger and bigger in cycling, which is good or bad, depending on your situation, because it maybe makes some sponsors hesitate about coming into the sport, and the sport is becoming more and more popular too, so it's a bit paradoxical."

For Ries and Hinault, their time at Arkéa should end at the Tour of Guangxi's conclusion in Nanning on Sunday, while the team's last official race will be in their home nation on the same day at the Chrono des Nations.