Further one million euros needed to secure future of Leukmans, De Gendt, Marcato
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The full 29-man Vacansoleil-DCM roster for 2013 was presented in Amsterdam at a film theater and museum(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
The Vacansoleil-DCM squad previews the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad parcours.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Race leader Bjorn Leukemans' Vacansoleil-DCM squad at the front of the peloton.(Image credit: Isabelle Duchesne)
Vacansoleil-DCM Directeur Sportif, Hilaire Van der Schueren, needs a further one million euros in order to create a Pro Continental team out of the remnants of the current WorldTour outfit. The team's hopes of retaining a spot in the WorldTour have looked bleak since the middle of the year, thus an alternate plan of running a Pro Continental from a reduced budget of 2-3 million euros has looked the likely exit plan for Van de Schueren and some of his current squad.
Having managed to raise two million euros thus far, Van der Schueren now wants another million to ensure the team is viable. Unfortunately for all parties involved, he is running out of time to raise these finances and submit the requisite paperwork to the UCI by the 1st of October.
"If I can get a contract, the money will go directly to sign Björn Leukemans, Thomas De Gendt and Marco Marcato,” Van der Schueren told the Gazet Van Antwerpen. "With them, it's guaranteed that you can participate in important races.
"But I have very little time. If I want to have my own team, I have to send the information to the UCI before October 1."
If Van der Schueren fails to register his own team he has hinted that he may take his current budget of 2 million euros and join forces with an already established Belgian Pro-Continental team such as Accent Jobs-Wanty.
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