Pegasus Sports director Henk Vogels has echoed the sentiments of team owner Chris White, saying that he is very disappointed by the UCI’s decision not to give the squad a Pro Continental licence.
The Australian learned in the last few hours that the bid had been unsuccessful, a decision he said that had not yet been explained to the team staff. He’s clearly and understandably upset by how things have turned out, yet remains determined to keep moving on.
“We will continue as a Continental team,” he told VeloNation by phone from Australia. “I’m pretty devastated. We don’t know the reasoning, but we had come up with sufficient funding. We had a solid budget for the year, including a major, major sponsor who was going to come on board if we got the licence. Yet the UCI still did not accept it...it is a pretty sad state of affairs.”
It had originally been intended that the team’s predecessor, Fly V Australia, would continue at a Continental level in 2011, with the Pegasus Sports setup to race at the ProTeam level. The latter status was too much to secure for year one, but White, Vogels and the others all believed that a Pro Continental licence was on the cards.
And while things were complicated by main backer George Gillett Jr. walking away and the team missing out on the first granting of licences, the riders and staff still believed that the Pro Continental status would be secured.
However today’s news means that Pegasus Sports will have to start a level below that again. Vogels confirmed that two Continental squads will be run next year, Fly V Australia plus the team he will work with.
One who is clearly not impressed is Robbie McEwen, the team’s marquee rider. He voiced his frustration via his Twitter account, faulting the UCI for its decision. “Well done UCI…thanks a lot,” he wrote. “So much work, effort, commitment, passion, sacrifice. Been for nothing…devastating.
“For those not in the loop, our team has been refused a licence for 2011. 50 people out of work. 25 great riders without a team.”
Vogels stated that things would continue, thus allying fears that the riders and staff would be left stranded. “I haven’t spoken to Robbie this morning but I know we are going to try to move forward with a Continental team,” he explained to VeloNation. “We already have support of some of the bigger riders on the team. I don’t know about Robbie as I haven’t spoken to him as yet, but I think that 80% of the riders will stick around.
“It has only happened five hours ago, so we are still in unchartered waters here for the next couple of days until we talk to everyone. I do think we have a great organization and a great team, though.”
Pegasus Sports had been expected to ride many of the big events in the sport. Even if Tour de France participation wasn’t achieved in year one, the presence of riders such as McEwen, Robbie Hunter and others would have helped the squad gain access to some of the biggest races. Being the first-ever Australian squad at that level was also a draw in terms of likely media coverage and race invitations.
Pegasus Sports’s early-season programme was reported as including top-class events like the Tour de Langkawi, the Tour of Qatar and the Tour of Oman.
Vogels concedes that its race schedule will be affected by not gaining the licence it had aimed for, but thinks that if the majority of riders stay on board, they will still gain invitations. “I would hope that they will have faith in us as a team and still move forwards,” he explained.
More details will emerge in the days ahead as to why the UCI took the decision to say no to the team. Vogels didn’t want to be too critical, but he clearly doesn’t understand what went wrong. “I am deflated. I have worked so hard over the last two years to get this up and running with Chris [White],” he said. “What I don’t understand is that this is an Aussie team, they want to promote globalisation, and yet there’s no support from the UCI. Anyway, we will move on with a Continental programme…”