New report from Dutch paper De Telegraaf report that the Professional Continental squad, the Cervelo Test Team, are done in the peloton. The rumors that were at first thought to be bogus about Cervelo and Garmin joining forces at least had some truth to them as the article says that the money needed started to become too much for Cervelo to handle a team. Many riders still have contracts with Cervelo for the coming year including the two H's, Hushovd and Haussler.
One area that could be speculated is that the Luxembourg team of Andy and Frank Schleck haven't announced a bike sponsor yet and from the names that have been rumored to join their ranks, there is no big classics studs so a 'merger' of sorts could possibly be in the works
The fate of the women's team is unknown though what I gather from the article it seems like they might stay together though nothing is known.
I, for one, am crushed by these developments. I was on board with Cervelo from the moment they had announced their signings. Such a great concept this team started and Vroomen and White seemed like competent bosses. It seemed to be like a star burning too bright in retrospect and the results and stories came in the first year, this year seemed full of near and BIG misses that made me, as a fan, frustrated after seeing what they were capable of the year before. Hopefully all of these riders can find work for the next year and that this is not out of the blue to them completely.
De Telegraaf story here (in Dutch)
Paul Martens of Rabobank gives his thoughts via Twitter
What are that cracy rumors about cervelo stopping?that would smash a hole into the peloton..it´s nearly sept, where do the riders have to go(?)
2Teams can´t fusion completely,then you would have 50-60 riders in one team,so...there will be a lot of fellas left!!!