Drops women's team saved after crowdfunding campaign

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The British-registered Drops women’s team have been saved thanks to a fundraising campaign, support from offline donors and new team partners. 

The team announced the news on Tuesday morning, promising further details of its 2019 sponsors and team name later in the week.

"We want to thank everyone that funded, shared and made noise about our recent crowdfunding campaign, the amount of love that we received was very humbling and meant so much to everyone involved in the team," the team said in three posts on Twitter.

"We're over the moon to say that through the crowdfunding campaign we achieved our goal of saving the team. This is down to 199 crowdfund backers who now form our new members club, private 'offline' donations and some new team partners."

"The Drops team will continue to #ColourTheRoad in 2019! More team news to follow later this week. If you backed our Crowdfund Campaign, you'll receive an email in your inbox later this week."

Through the online fundraising campaign, Drops raised 10 per cent of their overall target, with 199 people donating a total of £25,312. However, like the men’s EF Education First-Drapac team, the buzz around the campaign attracted other backers.

Doubts about the team’s future emerged in late October after a sponsor decided against funding the team for 2019. It is the second time this year that team owners and managers Bob and Tom Varney had to search for a new title sponsor. Earlier this year, it was confirmed that their primary sponsor Trek, who had been with the team since the start, would step aside to focus on their creating their own team.

The Drops cycling team began life in 2016, they impressed in their first season and gained entry to some of the biggest races on the calendar. They were an almost solely British squad in their debut season, but they signed a number of international riders, including Ann-Sophie Duyck, Martina Ritter and Susanna Zorzi for the following season.