Won't You Cycling, which operates the Circus Wanty Gobert team, has acquired Continuum Sports, which operates the CCC team, it was announced Tuesday. As part of the deal, the Belgian team will also take over the World Tour license for 2021.

CCC had announced earlier this year that it would withdraw from the sport at the end of this season due to financial pressures related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Team manager and current owner of the World Tour license, Jim Ochowicz, has spent months searching for a new funder for the team, but today's news ends that search and any hope of an American running the team in the same capacity in 2021.

The team's search is now over.

Circus Wanty Gobert will be in charge of the operation, and Ochowicz will continue his transition to the World Tour.

"Together with the co-founders of Want-You-Cycling, Benoit Sonnen, Christophe Wanty, Ronald Gobert, and David Sauvage, we have built the project step by step with the ambition of one day moving to the World Tour." Jean-François Broulard, general manager of Want You Cycling, said in a press release.

"When the time comes, the structure will be in place and the partners will follow. With Jim Ochowicz and Gavin Chilcott's years of experience, we will do everything in our power to ensure the sustainability of the World Tour project, just as our BMC Racing and CCC teams have done, and just as our teams have been successful at the professional continental level. We believe that our team will be as successful on the World Tour as it has been on the professional Continental level, as have the BMC Racing and CCC teams.

However, this is not a merger, and it is unclear at this time whether the current CCC team players who have not yet signed contracts will be offered new terms by Circus Wantigovert.

CCC will run the remainder of 2020 until Want You Cycling takes over the license next season. Alessandro de Marchi will lead the team in Wednesday's Flèche Wallonne, Ilnur Zakarin will lead the team in the Giro d'Italia, and Greg Van Avermaat and Matteo Trentin will battle for results in next month's cobbled classic.

"2020 was not the year that anyone expected, but we want to finish the season in the best possible way as a CCC team," Ochowicz said.

"In 2021, Continuum Sports will take a new direction and pave the way for Circus Wantigobert to move to the World Tour, which is an important milestone for the Belgian team and a deserved promotion.

"Since the creation of Continuum Sports in 2007, we have made our mark in the cycling world with the BMC Racing Team and the CCC Team.

"Sharing our ambitious long-term goals and vision, Circus-Wanty Gobert, under the leadership of Jean-François Brulard, is ideally suited to carry on the legacy of Continuum Sports, and we are well positioned to support their efforts as needed.

Circus Wanty Gobert, which currently has 18 riders under contract for 2021, was founded in 2009 as Villem Verandas, was elevated to Pro Continental status in 2011, and has maintained that status ever since.

The CCC team has already transferred nine riders to other teams, including star riders Van Avermaat to AG2R La Mondiale, Trentin to UAE Team Emirates, and Fausto Masnada to Detunink Quickstep They are.

Elsewhere, Patrick Bevin and Alessandro de Marchi move to Israel Startup Nation, Simon Sajinok to Cofidis, Nathan van Hooydonk to Jumbo Visma, and Van Avermaet plus AG2R Gijs van Hecke and Michael Scherr have found a new team for 2021.

Riders confirmed for Circus-Wanty-Gobert in 2021 include Line Taaramae from Total Direct Energy, Baptiste Plancaert from Bingault-Warronie Bruxelles, and Lorenzo Rota from Vini-Zabou-KTM.