Fernando Alonso's cycling project has been a major talking point for several months. He's going to start his project in 2015, and he's going to acquire some heavyweight riders. Of course, Alonso also want to enter the World Tour. The World Tour license thing, leads to the talk that Fernando Alonso's project will absorb Team cannondale, according to BiciCiclismo.

According to UCI rules, the highest level that a new road cycling team in its first year is Pro Continental. It cannot be a World Tour team from scratch. This is also true for the Alonso project. Although the team will likely get wildcard to attend the prestigious races including Tour de France if it's going to sign marquee riders like Peter Sagan, the idea that the team will start as a ProConti team simply doesn't fit the ambition of Fernando Alonso.

The new plan for the former F1 champion, is to acquire and absorb Team Cannondale. The Italian-based team will bring the World Tour license to Alonso. And Cannondale already tried to sell its license according to rumors, including an attempt to talk with Russian billionaire Oleg Tinkov.

Of course, the problem in this new plan, is that the Cannondale team has a lot of current riders and staff with contract, and with the Italian background, it might not satisfy Fernando Alonso's requirement to just retain them. Similar problem arose when Alonso tried to take over Euskatel-Eustadi team last autumn. The Basque team ultimately failed in negotiations with Alonso, mainly due to divergence in whether to regain the current staff.

On the rider part, though, the Cannondale team seems to be a perfect fit for two-time F1 champion. Sagan is arguably the best rider in road cycling (at least the most expensive rider in fantasy cycling). Moser and Viviani are young riders with some respectable results. Also there're high potential youngsters like Mohoric and Villella.

Fernando Alonso will also look into the free agency, in order to acquire the big name riders. Rui Costa and Valverde bost have their contract expiring after 2014 season, and both riders fit the "Spanish" team background. There's also the option to buy out contracts, including Contador's contract, to add another Spanish superstar to the team.