Linda Jackson, founder and CEO of To the Top Cycling LLC, confirmed to Cyclingnews that EF Education-TICBO-SVB will fold at the end of 2023. She also confirmed that the team’s current Women’s WorldTeam licence will not be assumed by another team going forward and that all riders and staff are free to join new teams in 2024.
“It is with deep regret that I confirm that I have not been able to secure the sponsorship needed to maintain my world tour licence,” Jackson said.
“Trying to find sponsorship was just too difficult following SVB’s collapse in March, given the overall economic environment at the time. I let my riders know early on that they should be looking for other opportunities as my main priority was to be transparent and assist them with transitions to other world tour teams versus dragging out the sponsorship hunt to the 11th hour.”
The team lost long-time sponsors Tibco and Silicon Valley Bank due to “recent economic challenges and events” after the bank’s collapse earlier this year. The two companies had supported the women’s team, run by Jackson, since 2008, while Cannondale has been her team’s bike partner since 2020.
EF Education joined Jackson’s programme as a co-title sponsor at the beginning of the 2022 season and through to the end of 2023. However, the EF Education-TIBCO-SVB team has always been owned and managed by Jackson and her management company To the Top Cycling LLC.
While the EF Education-EasyPost men’s WorldTour team was originally managed by the Slipstream organisation, it is now owned and managed by EF Pro Cycling.
EF Pro Cycling announced in June that they will start a new women’s team, racing as EF Education-Cannondale, and that it will begin as a Continental women’s team in 2024.
Cyclingnews asked EF Pro Cycling if they had attempted to assume EF Education-TIBCO-SVB’s Women’s WorldTeam licence from Jackson and To the Top Cycling LLC, or if the two teams would be working together in some capacity. However, a representative of EF Pro Cycling said all questions regarding the team’s licence should be addressed to Jackson.
Jackson confirmed to Cyclingnews that there will be no links between her EF Education-TIBCO-SVB WorldTour team and the new EF Education-Cannondale Continental team in 2024 and that her current programme will end.
EF Education-TIBCO-SVB’s European Manager, Christel Herremans, told Sporza that the staff of Jackson’s current team are not permitted to work for the new EF Education-Cannondale team…
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