Several Euskaltel riders thought they had their futures secured when they signed a contract with Euskaltel for the 2014 season. With the team folding at the end of the year, they now find themselves on the market and seven riders have now received a redundancy notice which informs them that their contracts will not be paid in full.

The management of the Euskaltel team is in the process of closing down their cycling operations after they failed to find the needed backing for the team to continue in 2014. One of their obstacles is the fact that several riders and staff members have contracts for the 2014 season.

Those riders were all expected to continue on the new Fernando Alonso team when it emerged that the F1 driver planned to take over license in 2014. When those negotiations broke down, the riders were left in a difficult situation on a market loaded with talented riders.

Few have managed to find new teams for the coming season and now they have even been informed by their current team that their contracts won't be paid in full. Marca reports that seven riders, including team leader Samuel Sanchez, received a so-called redundancy notice on Wednesday.

Sanchez, Igor Anton, Egoi Martinez, Gorka Verdugo, Jon Aberasturi, Ruben Perez, Miguel Minguez and several staff members now have two weeks in which to decide on “an ad hoc representative commission to negotiate in their interest during the course of the indicated proceedings,” Marca reported, quoting from the letter the riders received. None of the seven riders have found a team for the coming season.

Wanty and Colombia have both shown interest in Sanchez but both teams have explained that he needs to resolve his contractual situation with Euskaltel. Anton is still hopeful that he will take over Kevin De Weert's spot on Omega Pharma-Quick Step, with the Belgian unlikely to make a full recovery following his dramatic crash in the Vuelta a Espana.

Martinez, Verdugo, Aberasturi, Perez and Minguez are likely to retire unless a door opens late in the season.