Gianni Savio pronounced the word carefully and deliberately: "tragetare".

"Tragettale" is a word he uses a lot these days.

Its literal translation is "to sail across," and Savio reached for that nautical image several times this week in Padua's Prato della Valle as he described the attempt to keep the drone hopper and Androni team alive for the next season.

Last winter, when Savio announced Dronehopper as its new sponsor, all seemed to be at peace: a four-year deal was agreed upon and signed, and there were even lofty talks of a promotion to the World Tour in the meantime.

"They came to us with big ideas," Savio told Cycling News before this week's Giro del Veneto. We said, "Let's go carefully and gradually."

"We've been very cautious because Drone Hopper, the Spanish drone manufacturer, has slumped and failed to deliver on its commitments," Savio said.

The mid-season transfer of Jefferson Cepeda and Andrea Piccolo to EF Education Easy Post provided short-term relief. Long-term sub-sponsor Sidermec (Sidermec) also assisted in the final part of the season.

In August, however, Savio told all riders and staff that they were free to find employment elsewhere. The race calendar closes this week in Italy and Malaysia, but the situation is serious.

"The drone hoppers are good people, but unfortunately they are a start-up company. They want to continue sponsoring us, but at the moment they don't have the means to do so." They are starting to make money and say they can pay us, but I said I need assurances."

Under UCI rules, Dronehopper deposited a bank guarantee equal to a quarter of the team's wage bill at the start of this season. Savio said that since he has a contract with Dronehopper through the end of 2025, he plans to deposit the same amount of bank guarantee next season, but that amount would not be enough to keep the team in contention for the Giro d'Italia.

"We have a bank guarantee of 350,000 euros, but that is far short of a team at this level. Savio stated. We haven't decided not to continue, but we're not even sure if we will.

"Given the difficulties that Drone Hopper is going through, we have to find an alternative, an alternative sponsor. Otherwise, the ongoing stress will make it impossible to continue. You can't keep a squad going properly if you are only concerned about financial problems."

Savio has been involved in running cycling teams since the mid-1980s, and the current team has existed since 1996. Over the years, the team jerseys have always been adorned with the brand names of various sponsors, including an Italian saddle company, a Colombian soft drink, and even the country of Venezuela.

Yet despite such shifting funders, the structure itself has remained remarkably stable. Savio said that this is the first time that a team has come to the end of a season without being certain whether or not it will continue into the next season.

"It's stressful," said Savio: "but stress is a friend that keeps me company every day."

As it stands, all of the Dronehopper riders, from Eduardo Sepulveda, a Tour de Langkawi rider, to Humberto Marengo, who is on the attack in the Serenissima Gravel, are free to find work elsewhere. Nathanael Tesfazion decided to move to Trek Segafredo on Friday, but it will take a small miracle to find a new team at this level in a market where riders like Alessandro De Marchi, who won the Maglia Rosa at last year's Giro, are still under contract.

"Two and a half months ago we held a conference call and told everyone - riders, supervisors, soigneurs, mechanics - that they were free to sign with other teams," Savio said. Almost everyone's contract expires at the end of this year, but it was the right thing to do. If we keep the team alive and they don't find a place somewhere else, we will talk then. But no one can say that he has lost his potential just because Savio led him on."

Meanwhile, the 75-year-old Savio is trying to attract interest from new sponsors who will support the team through 2023. So far, nothing concrete has been discussed. There have been "contacts," he said, adding that he might consider dropping down to the continental level for a year until a more substantial sponsor emerges.

"I would even be willing to tragetare for a year as a continental team," Savio said. That would mean having a smaller team, perhaps made up of younger riders. But it has to be a real project.

For the past few years, Savio's big bargaining chip has been his participation in the Giro d'Italia, which was even guaranteed when RCS Sport gave the winner of the Coppa Italia a wildcard entry.

No such lifeboat this time around. If the UCI expands the World Tour to 20 teams in 2023 at the behest of the teams relegated from the top league this season, that number could drop even further.

"I was talking to a director of an important foreign company the other day. And I said, 'I'm not even certain I have a team. ......' ' And he replied, 'No, I don't,'" Savio said.

"If the World Tour gets to 20 teams, it will be a big, big problem for the pro teams. It would be a big, big problem for the pro teams.