Sergeant, who runs the Lotto-Belisol team, signed Horner on a two-year deal in 2006 when the squad raced under the Davitamon banner. Horner moved to Astana in 2008 and later RadioShack before wining the Vuelta in September at the grand age of 42.
"We worked together for two years but now on that money, at his age, he can't fit in our team," Sergeant told Cyclingnews.
Sergeant has already bolstered his team with a number of signings for 2014 including Maxime Monfort and Tony Gallopin.
"We're looking at giving chances to young guys with potential and we live up to the goals of André Greipel, Gallopin, and Jurgen Van den Broek, so Horner wasn't suited to that."
"I saw his agent Michael Rutherford several times at the Vuelta and he knew it was not easy. I said to him whatever offer you give me I'll say no because it's not in our strategy and we don't have too much money to pay him."
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"Another part of the issue is that no teams need the points. Before it was a problem to be in top 15 teams but now that problem has gone. It's not like it was two or three years ago."
Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
