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Updated: Cervélo Test Team confirmed to fold at end of the season + video

Trend toward big budgets forces Cervelo to call it a day

Cervelo confirmed in a statement released late on Thursday evening that the Cervelo Test Team will fold at the end of this season. In its statement Cervelo said that "certain subtle changes in the rules" had led to a trend towards bigger budgets something with which the company was not comfortable – put simply they were priced out. 

"We were okay with the significant commitment we originally made to the team, but to increase it is not prudent.

"To create the best opportunities for riders, staff, sponsors and other stakeholders, a bigger team environment is needed. At the same time, the very positive response to a focus on "more than just racing" has been great," said the statement.

Although the men's team will fold, it is unclear what will happen to Cervelo's highly successful women’s squad, which includes British riders Emma Pooley and Lizzie Armistead, reports suggest it will continue and Cervelo's statement conclusion does appear to leave the door open to the possibility of the women's team continuing:

"We look forward to continued involvement in pro cycling at the highest level with an emphasis on product R&D, as we have since 2003. To that end, we will announce the details soon." it would certainly be much less of a drain on Cervelo's budgets.

Several riders are now expected to move to Garmin-Transitions, which is also set to switch from riding Felt to Cervélo bikes next season – Garmin are currently sponsored by Shimano while Cervelo ride SRAM, the likelihood is that the bikes will revert to the Shimano set ups used in CTT's first year of operation. 

Rumours surrounding Cervélo TestTeam and Garmin-Transitions had been circulating for several days, and were even discussed on the forum on the Cervélo website, gathering pace yesterday following a story on the Norwegian website Procycling.no and today directeur sportif told the Dutch website NUsport that there was substance behind them.

"I can’t deny it’s true,” he admitted, adding: “the future will change.” He went on to say that it was now a question of how the team’s demise would be managed, saying he expected it to cease totally, but at the moment could not add anything meaningful.

NUsport added that four riders – Thor Hushovd, Heinrich Haussler, Andreas Kilier and Britain’s Roger Hammond, are expected to move across to Garmin-Transitions next season.

The decision to end the Cervélo TestTeam male squad helps explain why the team, which currently races under a Professional Continental licence, didn’t figure on the recently published list of teams that have applied for ProTour status next year, as well as why Carlos Sastre was not offered a renewal of his contract.

The Spaniard, winner of the 2008 Tour de France, had already announced that he would be leaving Cervélo TestTeam at the end of this season after agreeing to join Geox, as the current Footon-Servetto team will be known after recruiting the Italian footwear brand as sponsor.

It also means that next month's Tour of Britain could be one of the last races the team participates in. Today, Heinrich Haussler was confirmed as leading Cervélo TestTeam in the eight-day race, with Jeremy Hunt, Ignatas Konovalovas, Daniel Lloyd, Gabriel Rasch and Martin Reimer also expected to start. Phiilip Deignan, Roger Hammond and Brett Lancaster have been named as reserves.

Cervélo TestTeam was formed in late 2008 after Team CSC, now Team Saxo Bank, with which Sastre had won the Tour de France, said that it was switching its frame supplier from Cervélo to Specialized from the 2009 season onwards.

The team quickly established itself as a force in the peloton with a strong showing in the Classics and other one-day races during the early part of its 2009 debut season, and that year Thor Hushovd also beat off Mark Cavendish’s challenge to claim the green jersey in the Tour de France.

Since its inception, the team has featured in the beind-the-scenes documentary series Beyond The Peloton, and you can watch below the second instalment of coverage of this year’s Tour de France campaign, which has just been released.

 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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skippy | 14 years ago
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What a shame to lose a "clean team" who set an exemplery example to the other racers !
So many teams have had to fold because of the bad behaviour of a rider or three that losing Cervelo must be a blow to the Racing Industry !
Lets all hope they continue to support the Ladies as that side of Cycle Racing Does not enjoy the level of Support that it deserves !

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James Warrener | 14 years ago
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Thor would be a great body guard for Tyler Farrar if he is ready to accept that his days of sprinting for the win are behind him.

Hushovd and Renshaw getting shoulder to shoulder to try and get Farrar/Haussler and Cavendish/Ciolek* into position.

*If Ciolek does go back to HTC/Columbia when Milram go at the end of the season.

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step-hent | 14 years ago
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agree its a shame - if nothing else, Beyond The Peloton made them likeable/accessible. They also had my favourite team kit (with the exception of their TdF grey effort this year).

Ah well, it will give Garmin a much better spring classics squad with Hammond and Hushovd. Hushovd said at the Tour this year that he felt like he was becoming more of an endurance rider than a sprinter - that sounded like he may focus harder on his classics goals next season than on the green jersey. Maybe he be a super-lead-out-man for Farrar in the sprints...?

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kittyfondue | 14 years ago
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Yes, it will be fun to see Thor at Garmin - the fur is going to fly during the sprints! I wonder if Mark Renshaw's vow never to speak to anyone on Garmin ever again after this year's Tour applies to new members of Garmin - or do they have to piss him off individually for him to include them in his vocal ban.

shame about Cervelo though - I really liked that team. Thought there was something kind of special about them.

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Jon Burrage | 14 years ago
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Hushovd at Garmin would be fun to see. Itd be interestin to watch how Cav fares when Hushovd has Millar, Dean, Zabriskie etc as leadout....where does it leave Tyler Farrar?

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