Veteran Italian coach Gianni Savio has confirmed that his team will continue in 2023.

A coach since the mid-1980s, Savio ran the Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli ProTeam in 2022 with Madrid-based startup Drone Hopper as its main backer.

However, the Spanish industrial recession severely affected the company, resulting in the team struggling to pay its riders and staff later this year.

Savio will return to operating the team at the Continental level in 2023, with one option being a merger with Colombia Tierra de Atletas, which already operates in that division.

After the Italian newspaper Tuttosport, based in Savio's hometown of Turin, broke the news, Savio told tuttobiciweb that Drone Hopper initially came on as a dream sponsor, submitted all the right documents to the UCI, and signed a four-year contract He said. They blew us away," he said."

Savio's current organization has existed since 1996. In the past, its sponsors have included an Italian saddle maker, a Colombian soft drink, and even the Venezuelan state.

Yet despite such shifting funders, the structure itself has remained remarkably stable. Savio told Cycling News in October that this was the first time a team had come to the end of a season without being sure whether it would continue into the next season. He said, "We have a bank guarantee of 350,000 euros, but with a team of this caliber, there are no more guarantees than that. Savio said in October. '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, they will continue to be stressed and will not be able to continue. We cannot properly keep the squad going if we are concerned about these financial issues."

Savio, who has contracts with five riders through 2023, promised this week to keep his financial commitments to the riders and staff.

"But given the difficulties we've had with the drone hoppers, I don't intend to take too many risks next year. Therefore, we intend to spend the year transitioning to a project with a Continental team and talented young racers, with the intention of returning to the professional team level in 2024."

Savio said that apart from a few minor details, the South American licensed Continental He said that he is almost ready to integrate with the team and that for him such a move would mean a return to his roots. [Personally, I'm starting over with Continental with the same enthusiasm I had when I started almost 30 years ago," Savio, who began coaching in 1986 with the small Santini Chiere team and whose previous teams include ZG-Mobili, which ran the Tour de France in 1995, told Tuttobiciweb He told Tuttobiciweb.

"Cycling continues to be my great passion and returning to work with South America is a tribute to the land where I discovered so much talent.