Sponsors to continue for 'cross world champion Nys
Landbouwkrediet became Crelan on January 1 (Image credit: Photopress.be)
Crelan-Euphony will disappear from the profesional road peloton, as the team manager today announced the end of the team. However, Crelan-Euphony will continue as personal sponsor for cyclo-cross riders Sven Nys and Sven Vanthourenhout.
“Due to a lack of financial guarantee, we will not go on in 2014, sad news for all of us,” the team tweeted this morning.
“Yes it's true! Yes, it's sad! Yes, we did everything we could! Yes, this is the reality of sport business! No, the show can not always go on,” tweeted sports director Jonathan Bulens.
After “long weeks” of work, “it is impossible to respect the administrative deadlines foreseen by the UCI regulations for a professional continental team,” team manager Gerard Bulens said on the team's website.
"A number of administrative obligations could not be met for September 30 and therefore, the refusal of registration would put both riders and staff in difficulty. Even if we would be able to meet these administrative obligations in a few weeks, I have had enough after 25 years managing a team of professional riders and not wanting to take any financial risk, I decided on no team for 2014.”
While bemoaning the loss of the team, Nys tweeted that he is not really affected. “Don't panic, people. Together with @svnvth (Vanthourenhout), we will form a team under the leadership of @janverst1978 (Jan Verstraeten).”
The team started out as Saxon in 1992. In 1995, Tönnisteiner took over as main sponsor, to be replaced by Landbouwkrediet in 2001. It became Crelan-Euphony this year.
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The team had only three wins this season. Two came from Sebastien Delfosse at Rund un Köln and the Circuit de Wallonie. It's biggest success over the years came in 2003, when Yaroslav Popovych finished third overall in the Giro d'Italia.
Nys joined the team in 2008. In the years since, he has twice won the UCI World Cup, won the overall standings n the Superprestige five times and the overall standings in the GvA Trophy four times. He also won the national title three times and is reigning world champion.
