Cycling coach Paolo Bettini, who gave up his job as coach of the Italian national team to head up F1 driver Fernando Alsonso's "aborted professional cycling venture," said that '14 was "the wrong year" for Alonso to try and "get the project off the ground," according to Simon MacMichael of ROAD.CC. Alonso had recruited Bettini to act as GM to his planned team at the end of '13. During '14, the pair worked on the proposals, "talking to potential backers as well as riders and team staff," but Bettini said that as it turned out, Alonso needed to "put his own career first as it became clear he would not be retained as a driver by Ferrari." Asked why the project did not "get off the ground," Bettini said, "Because it all happened in the wrong year for Fernando. His job is to be a Formula 1 driver. ... It was a crucial year for his team and he had to concentrate on that." Denying that it had been Alonso's own manager, Luis Garcia Abad, who had "vetoed the project, Bettini also declined to expand on the specifics of his own contract, said to initially be for two years with an option for a third." Bettini: "There will be no legal fallout, I'm not interested in that. We're on stand-by" (ROAD.CC, 1/19).
