"Pause" was not the word NCL riders would have chosen to describe the surprise announcement Monday that their National Cycling League-owned teams were shutting down and their jobs had been wiped away for the year.
That is the word Andrea Pagnanelli, CEO of the National Cycling League, used in a public statement Monday morning to disclose the league and its elite-level teams would cease operations for the remainder of 2024. The league owned and operated two teams last year, Miami Nights and Denver Disruptors, and had announced rosters for a second season along with a third team, Atlanta Rise.
Rider reactions boomed loudly across social media, from "The NCL can f*ck right off" to "painful", and many with a chasm of silence. A few team members spoke to Cyclingnews about the sudden development, which several said had really been a steady buildup of non-communications and commitments from the league, which had pumped out much pomp and circumstance in the inaugural 2023 season.
"My head is spinning," admitted Tyler Williams, a 10-year road veteran who moved from L39ION of Los Angeles to the Miami Nights this off-season. "It's mid-April, this puts people in a hard position. Teams already have commitments they made last season. The problem is the job market, with 50-plus people looking. We're not the first people to lose their jobs, unfortunately. You have to adapt and move on. It just sucks."
Several riders who spoke with Cyclingnews confirmed a severe lack of communication this year between NCL leadership and the team members. In fact, no concrete information was ever provided on the second edition of events, named the NCL Cup, which had a prize purse last year of $250,000 for three events and a team overall structure.
Riders on the NCL-owned teams were required to sign non-disclosure contracts, with many agreeing to annual salaries of $3,000 or less, $250 a month before taxes, or just equipment and travel expenses as a performance-only fee structure. A few riders said salaries were structured for the majority to be paid during racing season, beginning in April.
So when did the alarm bells ring? Williams said it was two weeks ago when there were no plans for the Redlands Cycling Classic, a five-day stage race for men and women in California. It was just his third time racing at Redlands, having started with BMC Development and competed two seasons with Israel Cycling Academy. Last year he was the silver medalist at the US Pro Road Race National Championships.
"As far as I can understand, there was 'investment' being worked on, but nothing was happening. Not a dime was going to be spent until that investment came through. So we never did a team camp. We were joking that Redlands was kind of our camp because we got a kit and some stuff and that was it. We tried to make the best of it. We thought the first supported team race was going to be Tulsa Tough [in June]."
With no plans for racing from the league, Williams and his Nights teammate Jonny Clarke joined the Disruptors team as guest riders in order to race Redlands. All the NCL riders paid their own way to California and paid for their own equipment. Williams came away with two podiums, while Denver Disruptors rider Stephen Bassett also had two podiums and Noah Granigan added a second place.
On April 12, the league reached out to riders and support staff via email to alert them that a Zoom call was scheduled for Monday, April 14. Williams said the message arrived on the time trial day at Redlands and it, "definitely brought down the mood".
Several people who were on the Zoom call on Monday said it was short and to the point, one person describing the group announcement as "the delivery was cold".
Shortly after the call the NCL posted their statement to social accounts on Monday morning, with the comments section turned off. The overwhelming sentiment resounded with sadness for the riders and staff who lost their jobs, including other teams who had been part of the NCL Cup.
"While we are of course disappointed at the gaps this will create in our 2024 race calendar for both our CCB women and our partner men's team for the series, Foundation Cycling, we are far more disappointed in the end result for the three teams of men and women who have been impacted by this announcement and their team staff, many who are key, long-time contributors to the US domestic racing community, who are suddenly and unexpectedly without jobs mid-season," Lauren LeClaire, sports director for the CCB p/b Levine Law Group, told Cyclingnews.
Her women's squad was on the invitation-only roster of 10 teams to return in 2024 alongside Foundation Cycling, the co-ed collaboration finishing fourth in the 2023 NCL Cup standings.
"For CCB, while we had looked forward to another season of racing in this new format, fortunately, we are positioned to pivot our focus to other events and will continue to rely on the steadfast support of our other partners."
Several teams like CCB were also affected by the sudden stoppage of the National Cycling League, with earning opportunities evaporated without any NCL Cup races and payment (whether cash or travel expenses) not provided for league branding on the CCB team kits.
"I bid adieu to my Miami Nights team that provided me a year of opportunity with the sudden dismantling of the NCL. For myself, I still have a full race schedule for 2024 in mind and I will be lining up ready to go as always, just not sure how I'll look yet," Andrea Cyr wrote with a positive spin on Instagram hours after learning there was no more Miami Nights.
"As of now, I do not have a team but that does not concern me much. I still have a cycling community and that's what matters most no matter what silly thing happens next in this sport."
The league noted in its statement that affected riders and staff "will be assisted through their transitions", but several individuals told Cyclingnews they had not heard more information.
"I'm going to be racing for essentially free now for the rest of the year," Tyler Williams said. "But I'm going to make that decision because I want to keep my career going, and hopefully get back to a paid system in the future. That's just me. There's a lot of people who are in worse situations.
"Cycling is such a passionate sport. Everyone who's in it to this extent has such a love and a passion for it. That's why we get so wrapped up in our emotions when stuff like this happens. And I do think at some level, while it's not the best business, it is business and it's just the timing of it. It put a lot of people in a bad spot."
