Matteo Trentin told Cycling News that his first preference is to remain with Continuum Sports after it was confirmed earlier this week that title sponsor CCC will withdraw at the end of the season.

Trentin, who moved from Mitchelton Scott, believes team boss Jim Ochowicz can find a replacement sponsor in the coming months.

"When I first heard about the sponsorship, it was like being struck by lightning, but the team is trying hard to keep going and they want to keep going," Trencin told Cycling News in a podcast interview that has not yet been made public.

"Right now I'm just focused on racing.

Racing resumes in August, with three Grand Tours and a classic to be held over 71 days. With the future of the team uncertain, the riders may decide to race for their individual futures rather than cooperate. However, Trentin, who will lead the team along with Greg Van Avermaat in the Classic, believes that selfishness will not serve anyone on the team.

"I don't think it will. If you look at what happened at Omloop, we made the race. Greg attacked, I attacked, he attacked, I attacked again. Sure a small group formed and I was there and he wasn't, but if the group had come back he could have fought for the win. There is no point in racing more selfishly than before. No one benefits from that kind of tactics."

Wage cuts and the loss of CCC, the title sponsor of the men's World Tour, are major blows to the sport, especially to those directly affected; the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Trentin, has exposed the fragility in professional cycling, and the loss of CCC's title sponsorship is a major blow to the sport.

"Caught up in the economics of the coronavirus, the situation is a bit sad. The pandemic exposed all the problems that cycling has from an economic standpoint. As a team we are dependent on sponsors and our sponsors have thousands of stores all over Europe.

"The team and management have worked hard and after a couple of months of discussion we have come up with a good solution. Now we are just waiting and really hungry for a race."

With the Tour de France and the Classics coming up, Trentin will have a busy late summer and fall. A big win would go a long way to attracting potential sponsors, and his main focus will be to stay focused on this year and hopefully remain with the organization he was part of just a few months ago.

"I think it's pretty important, but most importantly, to know how much potential a potential sponsor would have in terms of name recognition by sponsoring a cycling team. No other sport has such a great payoff.

"Thinking about the races coming up later this year, I could be on TV six hours a day for almost three months. I have faith in Jim and I know he will do something to keep the team alive. I've already spoken to him and I have faith that he will find a sponsor."