Euskaltel manager Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano has criticized Fernando Alonso after the F1 driver's ill-fated attempt to take over the license from the Basque team. Galdeano returned to the squad prior to the 2013 season but regrets his decision to go back to the ill-fated project.

For several years, Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano was the manager of the Euskaltel team and he enjoyed plenty of success in his time at the helm of the Basque squad. After the team's demise, he is, however, now being described as the man who brought one of the longest-running projects in cycling to a sad close.

In an interview with AS.com, Gonzalez de Galdeano vents his frustration that he was persuaded to go back to the project that he had left in 2011 for personal reasons. Despite a new strategy that allowed the team to sign foreign riders in an attempt to stay in the WorldTour and a new structure that saw it getting separated from the Basque Euskadi foundation, the team was doomed for failure as its financial basis was too unstable.

Gonzalez de Galdeano made one last desperate attempt to save the team when he opened negotiations with F1 driver Fernando Alonso who wanted to take over the license. The project ultimately collapsed, leaving several riders in an uncertain situation on the market and postponing Alonso's plans until 2015 when he will create his own team from scratch.

Gonzalez de Galdeano is highly critical of Alonso's approach.

"I don't understand how someone who is willing to invest 17 to 20 million and wants to create a big project, has no idea how it works," he said. He was ill-advised and remains very badly advised. I am looking forward to see if his new project sees the light next year.

'We were clear with Alonso," he added. "We presented our case clearly and have no fault in this. Alonso enters a world he knows nothing about. Cycling is not Formula 1. It is just as complicated as Formula 1, or even more so. He thought he could take money and do whatever he would like."

Gonzalez de Galdeano turned professional with Euskaltel before joining ONCE. He returned to the team in 2006 when he retired and took over the manager position in 2009. After briefly leaving the team, he was back at the helm of the new-look team for this season.

He regrets his decision to return to the squad and change the philosophy.

"I entered the lion's den when I shouldn't have," he said. "I should have picked someone who was from outside of the cycling world. That would have been better. I however did the job because it was irresistible but I suffered a lot. I did my master in labour-related disputes this year.

"If you would ask me today if we should have signed foreigners, I say no," he added. "The project got a boost with the new philosophy but then results didn't come and the project was destroyed.

"I don't know who destroyed this project but it wasn't me. I was the scapegoat. If I would do it again? No, loco. I have lost a lot."

Euskaltel only won 6 races in its final season.