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One Pro Cycling scraps plans to launch women's team

Lack of sponsorship thwarts planned move into Women's WorldTour after men;s team is wound up...

One Pro Cycling has scrapped plans to launch a women’s team for the 2019 season, citing lack of sufficient sponsorship.

Last month the team’s founder, former England wicket keeper Matt Prior, said that it was moving away from the men’s side of the sport and was aiming to secure a place in the UCI Women’s WorldTour.

> One Pro Cycling to switch from men’s to women’s racing

The team had started racing at UCI Continental level in 2015 and moved up to UCI Professional Continental level in 2016 before dropping back down the following year.

Speaking last month, Prior highlighted the difficulties of securing sufficient sponsorship to compete in men’s cycling, and contrasted that with the much lower level of money that would be needed to run a successful women’s team.

But in a statement released today, the team said: “One Pro Cycling are sadly forced to announce that we will not be able to run a UCI cycling team for the 2019 season.

“The team were committed to putting together a woman’s UCI squad for next season but due to lack of sponsorship we have not been able to raise a satisfactory budget to match our aims. 

“We are keen to pick up this journey for 2020 and will continue conversations throughout 2019.

“One Pro Cycling would like to thank all members, fans, partners and staff for their support. 

“We set out with a hugely ambitious plan and are very proud of everything we have achieved over the past four years.”

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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2 comments

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PRSboy | 6 years ago
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Its looking pretty bleak for the sport frankly.

Maybe it needs to go back to non Pro Continental/Tour riders having a job, training and racing around it.

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Gkam84 replied to PRSboy | 6 years ago
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PRSboy wrote:

Its looking pretty bleak for the sport frankly.

Maybe it needs to go back to non Pro Continental/Tour riders having a job, training and racing around it.

Pretty much what womens racing looks like at the moment. It would help teams greatly if they took on riders who weren't just after a paycheck on route to other things, ones who live and die cycling. There are many domestic riders like that, who don't get anywhere because of other riders that once won a "big" race (not grand tours or classics) dining out on it for the next 10 years while doing nothing for teams or sponsors. Just self-proclaiming themselves and making money. (I'm not thinking of a one pro rider, but there are a number on other teams, some of which have folded this year)

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