Hendrik Redant had expressed his doubts that the Pegasus Sports team will materialise in 2011, saying that the team’s efforts to find a new sponsor have been unsuccessful and that it has missed the UCI deadline for Continental licence applications.
The former Omega Pharma-Lotto director signed for the Australian setup believing that it would gain a UCI ProTeam licence. That was refused as the lineup of riders didn’t rank high enough in the UCI’s hierarchy of teams, and so it applied for a Professional Continental licence instead.
However the individual who was set to be the chief backer, George Gillett Jr., walked away from the deal in December and the team was ultimately turned down for that level of licence.
Applying for a Continental ranking for 2011 was the third option, but according to Redant it seems that too has been unsuccessful.
“I heard the news last night that the deal didn’t go through, the sponsor did not come on board,” Redant told VeloNation at the finish of stage seven of the Tour de Langkawi today. “At this point the deadline has passed and so I suppose there won’t be any Pegasus Continental team. They will keep on with the Fly V team, of course, but as far as I know now the new formation won’t be there.
“That’s the latest news I have – they didn’t come through with the sponsor, that they didn’t agree on something and the contract didn’t get signed. I can’t confirm if they are going to still try to find something else, but the deadline was yesterday or something like that.”
Redant has been working on the Tour de Langkawi as part of the Radio Tour setup. It’s not what he envisaged he would be doing – in fact, Pegasus Sports was originally planning on riding the race as preparation for the Tours of Qatar and Oman – but he could find himself in this role at more races in 2011.
“I don’t know what I will do? Radio Tour?,” he said, smiling. “This [the licence situation] is a bit of a pain in the ass, of course. I am not happy with this, but this is the way it is and you have to handle it. I hope to do some other things…perhaps something like this, as I like this as well.
“Of course, my ambition is not in this area, but it helps me to stay in cycling. It helps me to also see cycling from another way, another perspective, from a commissaire’s view. That is fine because later, if you get into the normal habitat again, you can use that in how you consider racing. So for that it is fine, but of course it is not my ambition from the beginning of this year.”
He said that he hoped to return to working as a directeur sportif at the UCI ProTeam level next season.
Many of the big names with the Pegasus Sports team have already left for other squads. Robbie McEwen and Robbie Hunter have gone to Team RadioShack, Svein Tuft has signed for Team SpiderTech and Daryl Impey recent announced that he would line out with the South African MTN Qhubeka setup. There are however other riders without any other options, and they will be under pressure at this late point to find something else.
At the time of writing, requests for comment from team owner Chris White and the UCI have not yet been answered.