The troubles at the Zaaf Cycling Team continue to worsen, with more riders walking away from the team over the non-payment of salaries.
Audrey Cordon Ragot was the first and most high-profile rider to leave the team at the start of April, and she has since been followed by at least five others.
US riders Heidi Franz and Canadian champion Maggie Coles-Lyster have now both confirmed they will play no further part at the team.
Last week, Lizzie Stannard signed for Israel-Premier Tech-Roland, while her fellow New Zealander Michaela Drummond also now appears to have moved on.
With Dutchwoman Mareille Meijering also leaving, to date six riders have confirmed they have walked away from the Zaaf team, which started the season with a roster of 15.
The walk-outs have been permitted by the UCI given the team's apparent financial crisis, with the governing body indicating to Cyclingnews that riders would be authorised to terminate their contracts and sign elsewhere if they had "compelling reasons".
Multiple Zaaf riders insist they have not been paid since the start of the year.
The bank guarantee submitted to the UCI by all teams covers three months of salaries, although funds would only become available by the end of March 2024.
With no guarantee of recovering any unpaid earnings from April onwards, the UCI, having investigated the team, allowed riders to unilaterally end their contracts and many have decided to do so.
"Due to worsening issues and conditions on Zaaf Cycling Team, I could no longer keep racing for them," Coles-Lyster said in a statement.
"So much love to the riders who have become sisters to me on this journey. Funny how these things can bring people closer than ever. An honorary shout out to those who have dealt with my stress and tears so far this year, here’s to lots of positivity and good vibes for the rest of 2023."
Coles-Lyster, who like Cordon Ragot signed for Zaaf after the collapse of the B&B Hotels project, has travelled to her native Canada to race the Track World Cup in Milton.
"Wow these past 6 months have been stressful. From B&B Hotels to ZAAF Cycling Team it’s felt like a whirlwind of highs and lows, stress, excitement of being back racing in Europe and lots of question marks," she said.
"Now I get to take a breath, put this energy into the Milton Nations Cup this week and sort out what the rest of my year will look like."
'Heartbreaking'
Another rider racing on the track in Canada this week is Michaela Drummond, who joined Zaaf after racing for the BePink team in the two previous seasons.
"It's been an emotional rollercoaster to say the least the past few weeks with problems within Zaaf Cycling team," Drummond said.
"I'm grateful for the amazing people I've met and I'm devastated for all involved in this messy situation. I'm off to Canada for the third nations cup with my National team. I CANNOT wait to race my bike again.
"Where to after that is still a mystery but I'm training hard and very motivated if there are any teams out there with a spot."
Heidi Franz was the third rider in the space of 24 hours to confirm she was also leaving. She was another who had been part of the B&B Project that never saw the light of day, and even moved from the US to Europe in the process. She wound up at Zaaf but it didn't prove to be much of a safety net at all.
"It’s been pretty hard to be a pro bike rider in 2023 so far," she said. "After the issues and conditions within the Zaaf Cycling Team continued and became worse, it was no longer possible for me to stay in the team.
"When you move your whole life across the globe to a new country, for what was supposed to be a second chance to make the dream a reality, it’s difficult to describe the kind of stress that festers when it all starts to crumble. Stress about whether you’ve made the wrong decision, trusted too much, and the drain from losing trust in yourself.
"I don’t mean to be over dramatic but the last seven months have been really heartbreaking. But at the same time, I’ve experienced the most incredible kindness, support, and compassion from so, so many people - new friends and old friends. 100% that’s how we’ve kept going and kept the compass pointed North."
Franz will line up at the Festival Elsy Jacobs next weekend with the US national team, but her future beyond that is unclear.
