Hold up: Manuela Fundación won’t be taking over sponsorship of Mitchelton-Scott after all

Only five days after GreenEdge Cycling AKA Mitchelton-Scott announced that Spanish organization Manuela Fundación was assuming title sponsorship, the team released a statement on Thursday declaring that the deal was off and the men’s and women’s sides would carry on in 2020 as Mitchelton-Scott.

Manuela Fundacion in World Tour 2020. pic.twitter.com/dxrBTgoLOI

— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) June 18, 2020

Team principal Gerry Ryan said, “We felt a strong initial connection with Mr Francisco Huertas, the Manuela Fundación and their noble aims. However, as the negotiations have evolved after the initial announcement on Friday, we have concluded that the relationship will not proceed. We wish Mr. Francisco Huertas and the Manuela Fundación all of the best for the future.”

Problems with the new arrangement became apparent on Wednesday, when it seemed that Ryan and Huertas, the foundation’s founder, might be at cross purposes. Ryan said that GreenEdge still owned the WorldTour license, intended on keeping it and was in negotiations with other sponsors. Manuela Fundación’s head of sport, Emilio Rodríguez, replied, “We agreed we were the owners, and that as from January 1, 2021, we would also own the license once all the paperwork had been handled by the UCI. We came in to save the team, but with our own conditions.”

And so we’re going to be denied seeing kits on the slopes of the Tourmalet.

Ryan will continue a search for sponsors to ensure the team’s survival in these tumultuous times.