Team move to quell speculation

In the wake of reports on Friday morning claiming Euskaltel were contemplating opening the team up to non-Basques, the team has issued a statement on its own website aiming to play down the speculations. Like most statements of their kind though, they inexplicably fail to address the issue.

The team claim they'll "continue to work for the good of Basque cycling", and that Madariaga's talk of a "modern cycling" and "a new way" is merely a way of saying that staying in the WorldTour will be a big challenge with the sport 'going global' and all. The press release neither denies nor confirms if the team will stay true to its unique philosophy of only recruiting riders from the Basque Country. Interestingly, they don't even mention it. If that's a good or a bad thing, I'll leave to you to decide. Make no mistake though, they probably would have discarded opening the team up to foreigners if it wasn't an option.

If you want to read the statement for yourself, click here.