The sports director of the nonprofit Manuela Fundacion said that despite the sponsorship of Mitchelton Scott, the current structure will remain in place this year and both the men's and women's teams will continue to operate as usual.

Emilio Rodriguez, who oversees Fundacion's sports department, told Cycling News Friday morning about the dramatic mid-season change in title sponsorship.

In the long run, it remains to be seen if the team's registration and World Tour license will switch from Australia to Spain. Rodriguez said, "It will be a Spanish team," and hinted at plans to move the service course to Granada.

Rodriguez also told Cycling News that the deal to take over the main sponsorship to Fundacion was agreed upon during the first two weeks of May, and the contract was signed on June 5. Details of the takeover will be revealed at a team press conference on July 1.

Based in Granada in southern Spain, Fundación Manuela is a nonprofit organization owned and wholly funded by prominent local businessmen, former constructor Francisco Antonio Huertas Gonzalez and his wife Maria Angustias Gonzalez. Fundacion currently works in the city to help people in economic hardship, and plans to expand the NGO's activities this fall.

"Fundacion's project will be in full swing on October 4," Rodriguez told Cycling News. We have been helping people in our hometown of Granada, and this big launch is something we have been working on for years."

"We have been working on this for many years.

"We are avid followers of sports and cycling and Francisco has always been very ambitious in moving our project forward. So when we created the U23 team (in 2019), we always knew we would build on it one day."

"What happened was we had this opportunity, which unfortunately arose during the pandemic, and instead of going for a World Tour entry in 2021, we agreed with Mitchelton Scott to move forward with everything changed at this point."

"We really believe in cycling as a sport, we think it's a great image for our project, and we know that Mitchelton Scott has a very solid infrastructure.

Huertas is already involved in sports sponsorships, including the local soccer team Granada CF and a local basketball team. The Manuela Foundation is currently sponsoring a men's U23 team run by former professional rider Manuel Carbente, which is in second place overall in the Spanish Cup series.

"We had riders in MTB and Masters before this season and the U23 team is doing well, but we always thought about expanding the team," Carvente, who is working with Fundación starting in 2019, told Cyclingnews.

The U23 team will continue in its current format, with Calvente continuing to lead it, at least for this year; the U23 team was Huertas' first foray into cycling, but "the goal was to enhance Fundación's image, and he chose to do that with a WorldTour team He chose to do it with a WorldTour team," Calvente said.

Rodriguez confirmed that the teams for both men and women would be "exactly the same as before. What will change, however, are the team colors and kits."

The negotiations themselves lasted only two weeks and the contract was signed on June 5. And now we are working around the clock to make all the changes."

Manuela Fundacion's mid- to long-term plan is to move the team's base of operations to Granada, with a satellite to Varese, Italy, where Rodriguez says: "It will be a Spanish team."