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Canadian Raphael Parisella’s B&B Hotels-KTM squad implodes

National road champ Maggie Coles-Lyster was set to sign with planned women's team

Photo by: Sirotti

After weeks of speculation about French ProTour squad B&B Hotels-KTM signing Mark Cavendish led to weeks of speculation that the team was about to collapse, the end came on Wednesday. The squad of Canadian Raphael Parisella, an outfit that raced the last three Tours de France as a wildcard team, has shuttered.

According to French site Le Télégramme, team principal Jérôme Pineau held a two-hour video conference to inform the riders and staff, whom he had already said could seek new jobs, that the end had come. After scrambling to find big name sponsors failed, the five-year-old team, originally called Vital Concept Cycling Team, imploded.

Twenty-year-old Parisella joined B&B Hotels in 2021 from Rally.

Another rider left in the lurch is Frenchman Pierre Rolland, two-time Tour de France stage winner.

B&B Hotels was supposed to be launching a women’s team in 2023 and that is off as well. National road race champion Maggie Coles-Lyster, who rode with DNA Pro Cycling is past season, was planning to join B&B. Australian Chloe Hosking has been left scrambling after the collapse, too.