‘If we have to take a step back, we will’ – Despite imminent Tour de France Grand Départ on home soil, long-established Spanish ProTeam risks folding at end of 2026

The 2026 Tour de France start in Barcelona this Saturday is drawing ever closer, a special moment for bike racing fans everywhere, but particularly those from that city. Even as the lights prepare to go up on the first-ever Grand Départ from the capital of Catalunya, this week there were stark reminders, too, that a sponsorship red alert is flashing ever more ominously for one of Spain’s top ProTeams.

Kern Pharma, for seven years the main backer of the team, announced earlier this year that they would be ending their sponsorship. The team’s three stage victories in the 2024 Vuelta España are the major sporting achievement of that period, but the team have already racked up six wins this year, most recently a bronze medal in the Spanish National Championships road race thanks to 2024 Vuelta stage winner Urko Berrade.

However, with no new sponsor yet to emerge definitively, the team are eying the end of the season with increasing trepidation, and AS reported recenty that August 22 and the start of the Vuelta a España is the current deadline set by the team to establish a clear fix on their mid-to-long-term future.

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Also according to AS, the hope is currently at least to preserve the team’s structure into 2027, even if it can no longer operate at the ProTeam level. However, the newspaper also reports that the 22 riders currently in the squad have been given the team’s blessing to look elsewhere for a job in 2027.

Despite various negotiations currently in place, manager Juanjo Oroz told El País recently, “All of that has be seen as a ‘No’ [to potential backing] until the signature is there in lack and white. Before that, it’s all lies”.

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“We don’t want to be ingenuous. We’re trying to work hard every day, to maintain our legacy and keep the essence of the team alive.

“If we have to take a step back, we will. This isn’t about egos, it’s about passion. This is where we build bike riders from the ground upwards.”

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2026 Volta a Catalunya 2026: the Kern Pharma lineup before a stage start (Image credit: Getty Images)

A little over two weeks ago, El País reported that Oroz sent out a general email warning the team about the uphill struggle for next season.

“I couldn’t do otherwise,” Oroz said. “I tried to talk to everybody to let them know that, much to our regret, we can’t guarantee them a contract for next season, so everybody needs to make plans for their future.

“We’re not going to judge or penalise any rider for signing with another team. That would be over the top, and it’s not my style. I want to be transparent and realistic with them.”

Kern Pharma’s plight contrasts sharply with that of another long-established Spanish ProTeam, Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, which unexpectedly received a wildcard invitation this year to the Tour de France. But the sponsor crisis is far from exclusive to Spain, or even to teams like Kern that are not doing the Tour de France, but rather heading to the start of the Sibiu Cycling Tour stage race in Romania this weekend.

French ProTeam TotalEnergies are also struggling to find backing for 2027 – and they are taking part in cycling’s premier event this year.

However, Kerns Phama’s predicament is a bleak reminder that while the Tour’s presence in any country is traditionally viewed as a massively potential trickle-down boost to cycling at grassroots level, the financial reality far from the bright lights of the world’s biggest bike race often remains harsh.

And regarding his own team, Oroz said, “I decided to be clear with everybody in June, and the next step will be taken before the Vuelta starts.”

Urko Berrade on the attack during a 2026 race in France (Image credit: Getty Images)

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