Efforts to form a Continental men’s team for next year have failed after they were unable to attract a title sponsor on short notice.
Harry Tanfield, who led the bid, said he initially had until December 6 to apply for a Continental team license after the collapse of his former team St Piran. The losses of Saint Piran and Trinity Racing road teams mean Britain will start next season without a men’s UCI continental team for the first time since 2004.
Tanfield is leading an ambitious effort to try to ensure that dire situation does not become a reality. However, he now says his project will not get off the ground due to difficulties raising funds.
“We can’t choose Continental, that’s not possible,” he said. “We’re not really sure what to do now. I just want to take a week off to sort out my thoughts. We can’t go to Continental, so there’s no deadline right now. If we want to sign up for an elite team, then I think we can do it. “
“There’s something that could happen, but I don’t have any confirmation so far,” he continued. “It would be great if a team could somehow get off the ground in the UK. I will now continue to look for sponsorship until 2026 as we won’t be able to meet this year’s deadline as it has passed and has Gone. British Cycling says it will return next November.”
Being an elite team, rather than a UCI Continental team, means the team is less guaranteed to compete at UCI level, but can still compete in the British National Road Series and other domestic events upon invitation.
British Cycling officials are understood to be concerned about the Tanfield team’s links to former St Piran staff after the team came under scrutiny from the UCI after managers asked mechanics to stick fake UCI compliance stickers on frames bought from China. investigation. Tanfield downplayed ties to the team he drives for this year.
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The British rider says he will not be deterred by setbacks and will look to take his ideas into the new year with plans to pitch an elite team to British Cycling.
“I’m basically going to keep my head down and work hard over the winter into next year and see how far I can go,” he said. “Some of the companies we’ve approached about sponsorships are really interested, but they’re only there at this time of year. There’s no marketing budget so there’s not much we can do hopefully in 2026 but I’m not sure.”
Despite the setback, Tanfield didn’t have a bad word to say about BC’s involvement.
“It’s just the agreement, you can’t change it,” he explained. “Anyway, even if they gave us an extra month to do something, it wouldn’t change anything, you can’t get a title sponsor on short notice. By the end of the month, that was just not possible for us. of.
“That’s it. I just need some time now to relax and focus on my own cycling again because it’s very mentally draining.”
As things stand, the former WorldTour pro is now ineligible on a personal level. Tanfield explained that his brother Charlie is facing a similar situation, but both are hopeful that things will get better.
“I really don’t know about myself and my brother and what this is going to bring to us,” he said. “I’m talking to some other teams and this situation goes on and there’s a lot of ifs and buts. I just want to do the best for the British environment and even if it’s a non-UCI team, that’s better than nothing. Do it well.”
