Nicole Cooke?s Vision 1 team and manager Stefan Wyman have parted company just seven months after the announcement of the new women?s team.
A statement issued by Wyman said he and the team had parted on ?good terms? and he wished them ?all the success in the world for the remainder of the season.?
The experienced Wyman will now look to start a new project for the 2010 season. ?I have six years in women?s professional cycle sport now and I really want to continue in it,? he said. "I think it is a good place to be. I would like to try and do something next year a little more on my terms.?
Cooke is on holiday this week and was unavailable to comment.
The team had a successful Tour de l?Aude ? the ten-day race considered to be the women?s equivalent of the Tour de France ? with Cooke finishing fifth overall and Australian Vicki Whitelaw winning the intermediate sprints competition.
Vision 1?s next scheduled races are in Spain, starting with Durango-Durango on June 9. The team?s spokesperson was unable to confirm who will manage the Vision 1 in the short-term but Wyman maintains the transition will be smooth enough. ?Nicole will continue at the top of Vision 1 as she always has been and she will continue with new staff in her own way. There should be no major disruption,? he said.
The Halfords Bikehut women?s road squad formed in 2008 to support Cooke?s successful Olympic bid was swiftly disbanded at the close of the season when the sponsors might have logically wanted to keep the World and Olympic champion in their colours. ?Ask Dave Brailsford,? Cooke told Cycle Sport magazine when asked why the sponsorship had ended.
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Cooke was then believed to have been in negotiations with top German team Nurnberger, but the formation of Vision 1 was announced in October 2008 after Cooke had guested for Wyman?s Swift Racing squad at the Grand Boucle in June.
?I was impressed with the professional and motivated attitude to racing and development of riders shown by Swift Racing when racing with them at the Grande Boucle this year,? Cooke said at the time. ?I was also very impressed by Stefan Wyman's management skills and his attitude to developing riders and team spirit.?
Wyman will now apply his management skills to looking after wife Helen Wyman and Great Britain cyclo-cross rider Ian Field over the winter months while working on a project for next year.
"It is a good time of year to be working on new projects: August and September are too late to be putting things in place,? he said. ?The time is right for me to try something new for next year in the way that I would like to go forward.?
RELATED LINKS
Tour de l?Aude
Great start for Vision 1
New sponsor for Vision 1
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