After months of speculation that Fernando Alonso would launch a new cycling team for 2015 under the acronym FACT (Fernando Alonso Racing Team), especially in view of his recent collaboration with the sports management group NOVO, the former F1 champion is yet to apply for a WorldTour team license.
According to UCI president Brian Cookson, he has not received a WorldTour application from the prospective FACT team, and therefore, doesn’t expect that the team will ride in the sports’s top category for 2015.
Indeed, since the deadline for a ProTour application for this year closed on October 1st, Alonso will have to wait another year to apply for a top level license. However, Cookson still remains positive that we will see them race next season.
“We haven’t had anything from them about the WorldTour,” said Cookson, at the start of today’s Tour of Lombardia. “We’re still waiting for further information from them, I think it’s still possible for them to have a ProContinental team for next year, but we’re still waiting for that information.”
Alonso certainly made his intentions known during the early part of this season, that he want to form a pro cycling team; especially after he hired on former world champion Paolo Bettini as his team manager. However, over the recent months, the project has grown more and silent.
Yet, at the end of last month, Alonso announced that he had joined forces with NOVO, which renewed hope that he might be able to secure a ProTour licence.
Cookson says that the UCI has done what they can, and that it is now up to Alonso to make the next move.
“We’ve provided him with every bit of information that is needed and we look forward to hearing of his plans when he’s ready to tell us more about them.” “He’s often said that he’d be quite happy to come in at the ProContinental level and build from there and that makes a lot of sense to us.”
Nathan Pillai of the Novo management company confirmed that no WorldTour licence application had been made.
"That is correct, we did not apply for a WorldTour license," he explained. However, he insisted that it would not undermine their intentions to create a team for 2015.
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