After announcing on Monday that IAM Cycling will cease operations at the end of 2016, owner Michel Thétaz has spoken of his immense pride in the team and what they have done since 2013.

“I’m pleased and proud with what we have done in the last four years,” Thétaz told Cyclingnews. “We made a lot of mistakes but we often corrected them… What I get now, the feedback I get from the riders and the staff, is that it was a great adventure. There are certainly some things that weren’t perfect but everybody was very comfortable in the team.”

Thétaz has been very open about why the team will no longer continue. He has funded the team from his own pocket for four years and wanted a co-sponsor to come aboard to help pay for things, but he couldn’t find one. He also spoke about the rumours his team and BMC would merge.

“IAM Cycling always wanted to be in the driving seat, and a leading position so the only thing that we were looking for was a co-sponsor and not us becoming a co-sponsor,” explained Thétaz. “As we have a strong team, although not quite strong enough, we felt that the structure was there. We wanted a co-sponsor who was convinced that the structure was appropriate. BMC is a totally different structure, which allowed them to go alone without any trouble.”

“We met all the time at races, we saw all the managers of the teams so we discussed with a lot of teams. We had discussions with different teams that were willing to give up their status and to link with us for a potential merger but this is almost impossible. Our answer was 'thanks very much, come in but you have to fire most of your riders and your staff because we have some outstanding staff already'. Then you realise that it was almost impossible to merge because then we would have to destroy what we have already made.”