Euskaltel team in trouble !

[Descender]

It's a shame that a team like Euskaltel, with all its GT and monuments winners, is going through such hard times.

 

[Arnout]

So OP's post was wrong about wage issues?Btw, I really like watching Euskaltel as most of their riders try to do something all the time (Like 5 times more than other teams) even though it is pretty much for nothing most of the time

Yes (and the cyclingnews article as well, for that matter).

Right now the Fundacion provides everything from wages to equipment to the pro team, but also Naturgas Energia, some MTB stuff and what have you.

Effective beginning of next year, the main sponsor of the pro team, Euskaltel will split from the Fundacion and take over the pro team and it structure to create a separate entity. Thus, from next year onwards, the Fundacion will still be managing a lot of Basque cycling-relating activities, but will not have anything to do with Euskaltel anymore.

However, local government has been decreasing sponsorship for years, and with Euskaltel, the commercial sponsor leaving, they have lots of financial troubles. Euskaltel used to fill up most of the gaps in the last couple of years, will now increase sponsorship quite substantially, but as the team is now split from the Fundacion, the latter is left with nothing.

Except a fleet of vehicles and buses, which are of not much use to them. Euskaltel have a team, but no equipment, so in a perfect world they were gonna take over those things and pay for them. However, the world is not perfect and Euskaltel doesn't want to pay a lot (or rather Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano, the manager of the pro team) and is now turning towards equipment from ONCE, his old team, probably just as negotiation tactic.

Madariaga, the manager of the Fundacion, has been using this tactic for a few years now, every couple of weeks saying Euskaltel will not exist next year anymore. He's now saying the same about the Fundacion. Thing is, the Fundacion has to pay the wages for November and December of all guys moving over to Euskaltel in January. It's a bit pointless for them as the season is over and they have barely any money left, so I think Madariaga is just playing tough guy and hopes Euskaltel, the sponsor, will pour in some extra money to get this over with, so Madariaga is left with a bit more cash.

All in all, a classic power struggle, nothing to do with an actual lack of finances on the Worldtour team side.

Apologies for not reading your post your excellency, although I appreciate your condescendency.

I just hate reading strong claims based on false information. It can start wars, you know

 

[Alphabet]

Wasn't only hiring Basque riders against EU employment law?

Can't be, if Athletic Bilbao are allowed to get away with it. Though admittedly Athletic have slowed things down a little, you no longer have to be an ethnic Basque, only born in the Basque Country.