Lizzie Banks expressed disappointment, disappointment, and anger over the French fashion company Paule Ca's decision to end its title sponsorship and funding of Equipe Paule Ca.

"I feel let down [by Paule Ka, its management and owner Matthias [Thomas]," Banks said in an interview with Eurosport UK (opens in new tab). [He threw us a lifeline and we all came on board in the middle of a pandemic and were very grateful and admired him for his commitment to us for three and a half years."

Équipe Paule Ka announced on Friday that it would close immediately due to major financial problems: in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, previous sponsors Bigla and Katusha cut off funding, and Paule Ka signed a 3.5-year contract through 2024 to become the team sponsorship of the team.

However, Équipe Paule Ka claimed that the sponsor was late on the first payment in July, and then failed to pay the team despite repeated assurances that it would meet payments in August, September, and October.

Cyclingnews asked Matthias Thoma, owner of Paule Ka, to clarify the company's decision to withdraw funds from the team, but Cyclingnews agreed that the company and the team would not report on the issue Cyclingnews understands that the company and the team have agreed not to report on the issue.

"My only comment at this time is that the team and the company's owners are in negotiations regarding the termination of the sponsorship agreement," Thoma told Cyclingnews both before and after the team's termination announcement.

According to information from Cycling News, Paule Ca had signed an 800,000 euro sponsorship deal for 2020, but team manager Thomas Campana personally funded the team's activities to the tune of 300,000 euros to fight for the team's survival during the rescheduled season The team has decided to do so.

"Unfortunately, the team lost the money and my wife and I personally supported the team," Campana said in an interview with Eurosport. I wanted to see the girls race in the most important races, like the Giro Rosa, the World Championships, and the Classics."

Campana told Eurosport that the contract signed between the team and Porreca stated that Porreca would fund the team as a UCI Continental team for the rest of the 2020 season.

A verbal agreement was then reached between the team and Paule Ka to fund the team on a multi-year contract as a women's world team through 2024.

"Based on the situation of the team being a UCI Continental team, our first contact with them was about the rest of the 2020 season," Campana told Eurosport.

"And we verbally agreed to take the team to the World Tour level for the next four years in order to obtain a license from the UCI."

The team was scheduled to compete in the Tour de Flanders on Sunday, but was soon forced to end and cancel the competition, and the riders will not be on the start line in Oudenaarde.

For the second time this season, Équipe Paule Ka requested the release of a bank guarantee to pay a certain percentage of player salaries. The bank guarantee is a percentage of the team's overall budget. It serves as a pre-season deposit consisting of 25% of the team's salary, which can be used in the event of financial difficulties to make up any shortfall in payments.

This season, under the new "Paule Ca" brand, the team has enjoyed great success, including a stage win at the Giro Rosa for Banks, a young rider of the year award for Mikayla Harvey, a Strade Bianche for Léa Thomas, and a podium finish at the Plouët GP for Banks.

Banks, Harvey, and Thomas had also signed contracts to race for the team in 2021, but the riders were forced to find other teams.

"Aside from a small Continental team that rose to fourth in the world, we achieved results that were unprecedented for a WorldTour team and immediately repaid [our sponsors]," Banks said in a report published in Eurosport.

"We believed we had it all. We were a small team fighting, achieving, getting results at the highest level, and we were going to keep doing that for the next three years, trying to become a World Tour team. All of a sudden it was all taken away from us."

"I am very angry that he [Mathias Thomas] let us down like this and let women's sports down. Now we are in a situation where we are having to negotiate contracts at a very difficult time. Had we been on the market a month ago, things would have been very different [but nonetheless, we thought women's cycling was in a better place.

"I don't want to be bitter about the sport, I don't want to be bitter, but it's a really, really hard pill to swallow."