IAM Cycling is in its second year in the WorldTour and they are looking for a co-sponsor to help them afford a big name to help them achieve bigger results in 2017.

“If you want to move on in the WorldTour you need to have top riders in the team and for this reason we need a co-sponsor,” sports director Rik Verbrugghe told SBS Cycling Central.  “We have a really solid team and we have good potential but we are missing one or two top riders to finish the races. You know, [someone like] Sagan is not one of the cheapest riders and you need to have an extra budget for this.”

IAM wants their team to move up from winning smaller races to becoming more serious players in the sports biggest races. So far, the team’s only top ten in a WorldTour race this year came through Heinrich Haussler’s seventh place in San Remo.

“We are now in a crucial moment where the sponsor, he wants to continue on a higher level and for this he needs to have some extra money and for extra money you need a co-sponsor. We are looking for a co-sponsor and then we can really go a step higher,” Verbrugghe said.

Verbrugghe is a great person to have on board, as he was part of the BMC team from their inception as they grew from Pro Continental level to Tour de France winners.

“I saw the same thing with BMC when they started in the WorldTour and look where they are now. I think the most difficult part of the WorldTour for the team has passed and we need to get over this. We are still working on a good way for 2017,” Verbrugghe said. “If you put all of this together, you go to the Tour de France, you will have an extra good rider or two riders, so that can hopefully help a sponsor to sign a contract with us for the future.”