The director of cycling for the Manuela Fundación has expressed outrage over Mitchelton Scott's abrupt cancellation of a mid-season sponsorship deal with a Spanish non-profit organization after July 1.

The Australian team announced last Friday that it had signed a team sponsorship deal with Granada-based Manuela Fundacion.

However, on Wednesday morning, team owner Jerry Ryan gave an interview to RideMedia, adding that he remains the owner and that the deal has not yet been finalized.

Manuela Fundacion insisted that the contract would continue and that Ryan's comments would not affect her, but on Thursday afternoon GreenEDGE, Mitchelton Scott's holding company, issued a statement saying that the transfer "will not proceed."

In response to the sudden U-turn, Manuela Fundacion U23 team director Manuel Carvente responded to the cycling news by noting his confusion and upset, and the strange practical consequences of a last-minute change of heart.

"The team bus is in the workshop, stripped of team colors, waiting for new publicity and team stickers," Calvente told Cycling News.

"And Carvente told Cyclingnews, 'We're waiting for the new team stickers.'

"But most importantly, they signed something. It has been signed since June 5 and was made public on June 12."

Stefano Garzelli, a former Giro d'Italia winner and long-term resident of Spain, negotiated on behalf of Manuela Fundación, Calvente said. Mitchelton Scott team manager Shayne Bannan was scheduled to visit Granada on Monday to continue discussions.

Less than 24 hours later, the Spanish sports newspaper Marca published an interview with Garzelli, claiming that "the deal is 100% resolved."

"They [Mitchelton-Scott] announced the transfer. It was also announced on their Twitter account."

"But then" -- without any warning, according to Carvente in an interview with Ride Media on Wednesday -- "the team started saying it was still theirs and that they were looking for sponsors.

He said he had no idea when or how Mitchelton Scott told Fundacion not to proceed with the final deal.

Mitchelton-Scott was in financial difficulty earlier this year, reportedly cutting rider and staff wages by 70% as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Calvente was scathing about the communiqué's claim that the team would pay staff and riders in full starting in August, saying, "If we didn't have the money to pay them this month, how can we pay them the next month?"

Apart from his great disappointment that the contract fell apart in such a way, as Carvente put it, "We didn't do anything that we hadn't agreed to, but we came across in the film as if we were the bad guys. It makes it seem like we were talking without having signed a contract."

"After what happened [on Wednesday], I personally didn't know if I wanted to continue," Carvente continued. They wanted to keep the team structure, but I asked myself how I was going to work with people like this."

"We're talking about a substantial amount of money, not just 1,000 euros. And we accepted all of them: those who were going to renew, those who needed new contracts, those who didn't. Everything. We did not object to anything. And yet, they came up with this