Uran gives Slipstream Sports two weeks to save the team

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Rigoberto Uran has given Jonathan Vaughters and Slipstream Sports two weeks to save Cannondale-Drapac's future as the Tour de France runner-up considers his options for next season.

On Saturday Uran and the rest of the Cannondale-Drapac team were told that they could seek employment elsewhere with Slipstream Sports informing them that a potential sponsor had pulled out and that the team were short of financial support. The team later confirmed to Cyclingnews that they needed in the region of $7 million USD if they were to safeguard the team for next season.

Earlier this month Cannondale-Drapac had announced that Uran had signed a new three-year deal at the team but the Colombian is now back on the market with Astana and Trek leading the queue to sign him. Both teams were also interested in signing Uran before he agreed to stay at Cannondale.

"We're talking to three or four teams but we are waiting on Vaughters, to give him time to see if he can do a deal," Uran's agent, Giuseppe Acquadro, told Cyclingnews.

"There are other teams interested in Rigoberto for sure but we wait for one week, two weeks.

"They were interested before but there's also UAE as well."

Uran, 30, finished second behind Chris Froome (Team Sky) at the Tour de France and is set to race the Canadian WorldTour races in September before closing out his season at the Tour of Lombardy in October. According to his agent a team that guarantees a leading position at the Tour de France is paramount but he stressed that the rider was willing to give Slipstream Sports further time.

"Rigoberto was second in the Tour, so for him that's important. We hope that Cannondale can find a new sponsor but we have possibilities. Like I said, we want to give Cannondale more time, and we want to help save the team."

Pierre Rolland, another of the team's experienced GC riders, posted a message on his Facebook page on Sunday morning, expressing his surprise over the team's situation. The team currently have 28 riders under contract for 2017, while Dylan van Baarle also re-signed for the team earlier this month. Rolland also has a year left on his current contract.

In July the team confirmed that digital media company, Oath, had come on board to support the team for the remainder of 2017 and 2018. That deal remains in place. At the time of the deal Vaughters said: "We run a really tight ship and on a thin budget. This gets us one step closer to where we want to be. We're open to more business and doing more deals like this. We've a few other parties knocking on the door but we need to get out of the situation whereby the team is held together by duct tape. This is big step for the team but we still have other places on the jersey for potential sponsors."