Following months of speculation, the negotiations between the Cannondale team and Tinkoff Bank have ended without an agreement. Instead, the bike manufacturer Cannondale has acquired the majority ownership of the cycling team which will be led by Peter Sagan in 2014.

When it was announced that Tinkoff Bank would end its sponsorship of the Saxo-Tinkoff team at the end of 2013, owner Oleg Tinkov made it clear that he planned to get involved in another cycling team. Rumours surfaced that the Russian was negotiating with Cannondale to invest his money in the Italian team and the talks were soon confirmed by both parties.

At one point, the deal almost seemed to be closed but yesterday reports indicated that the negotiations had come into difficulty. Those reports have now been confirmed by the announcement that bike manufacturer Cannondale has acquired majority ownership of the cycling team while the talks with Tinkov have been terminated.

Oleg Tinkov was reportedly attempting to gain a 55% share of the team to the tune of six million euros. Instead, Cannondale will now increase their investment and continue as the sole name sponsor of the cycling team.

"This further investment underlines our respect and the value for the accomplishments of the Cannondale team and recognizes the many benefits this association has brought to the Cannondale brand," Martin Schwartz, CEO of Cannondale's parent company Dorel, said. "Additionally, it comes on the heels of our acquisition of the Caloi brand in Brazil and our intention to market Cannondale throughout Latin America."

"2013 has been an amazing year for Cannondale Pro Cycling athletes and for the awareness of the Cannondale brand," Bob Baird, CEO, the Cannondale Sports Unlimited added. "We're looking forward to this next step with the team. We're passionate about pro cycling and furthering the sport with integrity and have a vision of building the most admired pro cycling team in the peloton. We have seen an increase in our market share of Cannondale since beginning this association and expect this to continue."

The press release confirms that Peter Sagan, Moreno Moser, Elia Viviani and U23 world champion Matej Mohoric will all be part of the 2014 team.