Alonso issues statement on collapse of Euskaltel negotiations

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Fernando Alonso has issued a statement via his twitter account addressing the breakdown in communication between himself and Basque telecommunications company Euskaltel over the future of the Euskaltel Euskadi cycling team.

As reported on Cyclingnews yesterday, and confirmed via an Euskaltel press release, negotiations between the two parties have drawn to a close and the team will disband at the end of the season. Alonso's statement does not shed any light as yet on how and why an agreement could not be reached, but it does re-affirm his desire to create a pro-cycling team. A desire he is hoping to acting upon for the 2015 season. For the 30 riders currently riding for the Basque team, however, 2015 may prove to be too late.

Alonso's statement:

"We've tried it until the end but it's just been impossible to have a cycling team in 2014. My passion for this sport, my will to cooperate and to do my bit remains intact, so this is only the beginning of the future.

"From tomorrow morning we are going to work on building, if needs be from scratch, a team we can be proud of. The best cycling team we can form, respecting this sport with humility. As you may have observed I'm quite tenacious, and above all, I love and value this sport a lot.

"It possesses and transmits, as I said many times, values that I share: a set of values that I would like to help promote. Cycling and it's fans deserve the best and now we have time on our side, time in which we'll be very attentive to any circumstance that we can learn from and, above all, that can make us better for next year.

"It wasn't to be, but it will be! This adventure has only just begun. Let's look for to 2015!"