Manuella Fundacion, the Spanish team that was aiming to enter the World Tour in 2020 through a buyout of the Mitchelton-Scott team, is to be disbanded.

The team, which was only registered as a continental team for one year in 2022 and raced at the amateur and U23 level before that, apparently failed to submit the necessary paperwork to continue in 2023 by the October 31 deadline.

Team staff told Ciclo21 (open in new tab) that they hope to return to cycling in the future.

The 11-man team won the mountain prize at the Vuelta a Asturias with Isaac Canton on the podium, but had zero wins in its first year of professional cycling. Canton, a former U23 Spanish national champion, then quit the team mid-season and began racing again at the amateur level. He is now retired.

However, Manuela Fundacion attempted to take over the Bike Exchange Jayco team, then known as Mitchelton Scott, in May 2020, and the Andalusia-based nonprofit became a mainstream sports news outlet.

Less than a week later, it became clear that Jerry Ryan, the owner of Mitchelton Scott's World Tour license, was not fully behind the takeover, and the seemingly concluded deal fell through. The takeover by Manuela Fundacion, which had already progressed to the point of removing decals from team vehicles and preparing a new logo, fell through.

The takeover, spearheaded by team manager Shayne Bannan and financial director Alvaro Crespi, was scrapped by Ryan.

"What was happening was that he [Banan] had a team of advisors," Ryan told the Sydney Morning Herald in 2020.

Banan and Crespi then left Mitchelton Scott at the end of June 2020 and were replaced by Brent Copeland and Darrack McQuaid.

Manuela Fundacion continued to sponsor cycling in Andalusia, with several junior-level and continental teams up to U23.