F1 driver Fernando Alonso's advisers confirmed that the "project to create a cycling team is alive and well despite the collapse of talks to save Euskaltel-Euskadi," according to Andrew Hood of VELO NEWS. Alonso's adviser, Luis Garcia Abad, said that the team’s future "would be revealed during the 2014 Tour de France, with an eye on having a squad up and running for the 2015 season." Abad added that the team "has signed two title sponsors." Regarding the sponsors, Abad said, "They are not sponsors currently involved in cycling. We are drawn toward businesses interested in innovation and with an ecological vision. We already have two deals signed." The plan is to "have a top-level, WorldTour team ready to race" by '15. Abad: "Fernando has said that he wants to bring the best of Formula One to cycling, and vice versa. This means technology, investment, commercialization, marketing, and using new tools such as telemetry, and the formation of a medical center, all with the intention of avoiding the troubles of doping." If the deal "comes to fruition, it would be a boon" for Spanish cycling. Following "the demise of Euskaltel, only Movistar remains in the WorldTour, with Caja Rural the lone Spanish survivor" in the Int'l Cycling Union Pro Continental ranks (VELO NEWS, 10/17). LIBERTAD DIGTAL reported Alonso "wants to revolutionize the world of cycling." Alonso wants a cycling team "that will have all of the technology applied to F1" (LIBERTAD DIGITAL, 10/21).
