ONE Pro Cycling will drop to Continental level for the 2017 season due to a shortfall in its budget after Factor Bikes ended its commitment to the team in October, but owner Matt Prior has vowed that his squad retains its long-term ambition to compete at WorldTour level in the future.
Although ONE Pro Cycling has since secured a three-year deal with a yet-to-be-announced bike partner, the team’s decision to withdraw its application to renew its Pro Continental licence had already been taken. ONE Pro Cycling will instead return to Continental level, where it spent its debut season in 2015. In mid-October, Factor announced that it will provide bikes to WorldTour outfit AG2R La Mondiale in 2017.
"We were dealt a hand and we’re doing the best with that hand," Prior told Cyclingnews on Wednesday. "Unfortunately, our bike partner pulled out in October. That moved the goalposts and left a shortfall in our budget.
ADVERTISEMENT
"That left us a month to cover that shortfall through another sponsor or another lead partner. That’s not happened so we’ve had to make the decision to move to Continental level. If we’re going to do anything, we want to do it properly."
Although marquee signing Matt Goss had a low-key campaign and retired at season's end, ONE Pro Cycling recorded 13 victories in 2016, most notably Martin Mortensen’s triumph at Tro-Bro Léon in April and Steele Von Hoff’s win on the opening stage of the Tour of Norway the following month. In October, the team was listed among the applicants for a Pro Continental licence for 2017, only to be forced into a hasty revision its plans.
"I think a number of other teams would have folded at this point but that’s not what we want to do. Our ambitions, our goals and our drive remain the same as they were when we started this project. We want to get to the top level, we want to get to the WorldTour," Prior said. "We’ve had something happen that was out of our control, and what we have to do now is react to it and make the best decisions we can to put ourselves in a strong position and go again.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/2gEiG9t
No comments:
Post a Comment