The Rewal Securitas team will not compete in the international professional ranks in 2021, and due to funding issues, a move to Continental status is the last option left in the fight for the team's survival.

The Danish team was promoted from the Continental third division to the second professional team division in 2019. However, the team was hit hard by the pandemic this year, and the last few months have been spent trying to keep the team alive in 2021.

Title sponsor Readiness was forced to scale back its support, and minor partner Securitas stepped up, but the search for a new company to invest the funds needed to run a professional program has turned up nothing.

"We have to recognize that our chances of forming a professional team in 2021 have run out. That is unfortunate. It is sad. It has been a long process and we have worked hard, but unfortunately we have not succeeded," team owner Steffen Kroman told the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet (open in new tab).

"We worked hard until the end, but we probably didn't really believe that at the eleventh hour someone would come along with, say, two million euros in sponsorship."

The team was founded in 2009 and hoped to compete in the 2021 Tour de France, which was scheduled to start in the Danish capital of Copenhagen after graduating from the pro ranks in 2019. The race was then postponed to 2022, but the team has not given up hope of doing so.

Going forward, the team will strive to raise enough money to run a continental-level team with a smaller roster and a limited race calendar.

"Hopefully, we will have the opportunity to build a continental team in 2021 with 10-12 riders. That is our ambition, and if that happens, we will have a new ambition to return to the professional field in 2022," Kroman said.

." International companies have expressed interest in becoming title sponsors of our team and are willing to use cycling as a platform to promote their brand."

Reewal Securitas has contracts with four riders for next year, including Rasmus Quade. Other riders, including Englishman James Shaw, were guaranteed contract extensions if the team could secure their future as a professional team.

"This was my last hope to remain a professional bike rider on the world scene," Shaw wrote on social media Saturday morning in response to the news.

." I have a few other sparks, but if anyone knows of a pro cycling team or is a manager, please contact me or pass on my details."

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Similar concerns surround Jesper Hansen, whose contract was not renewed by Cofidis and who was promised a contract at Rewal if he gets sponsorship. He said, "Right now, Rewal is my only chance to keep running professionally. There is no replacement."