Pablo Urtasun is one of several Euskaltel riders whose future is uncertain after the demise of the Basque squad. Having recently been linked with a move to Caja Rural, the fast Spaniard hopes that he will be allowed to continue at the professional level but knows that the decision is not in his own hands.

The demise of Euskaltel has been a disaster for Spanish cycling, with most of the team's riders having been unable to find a new home for 2014. With team leaders Samuel Sanchez and Igor Anton still free on the market, it is no wonder that the lesser known riders find themselves in a very difficult situation.

One of those riders is Pablo Urtasun who has been with the team since 2009. Being a fast finisher at the end of harder races, the Spaniard has had his chance to go for personal glory and has won three races in his time with the Basque team. However, he has mostly been a trusted and loyal domestique with five grand tour starts under his belt.

Like most of his teammates, Urtasun is still left without a team for the coming season but a door appeared to open last week when he was linked with a move to the Caja Rural team. Having learnt the trade in Club Ciclista Burunda which is the team behind Caja Rural, and with 6 years on the amateur squad under his belt, he has strong links with the squad and hopes to benefit from that connection.

As a professional continental team, Caja Rural is, however, reliant on invitations to the biggest races and until they know more about their race schedule, an agreement cannot be reached.

"At the moment, I have nothing, only the interest from Caja Rural," Urtasun told Biciciclismo. "When I called the staff, they had almost finalized the roster and are now waiting to close their budget and race schedule. I hope for the best but have to just let the days pass and be patient. It depends on whether they will expand the team and the budget and they need to discuss that with the bank [Caja Rural]. And it depends on whether they will do the Giro d'Italia. In that case, they need more riders but the decision won't be made until December or January."

If the negotiations with Caja Rural come to nothing, Urtasun still has the option to ride for a continental team.

"That could be of interest, why not?" he asked. "It depends on the race schedule and the salary but we have not sat down together to negotiate anything."

Urtasun had a year of ups and downs. After a slow start, he found the form in April when he was 2nd in the Klasika Amorebieta and won a stage and finished 4th overall in the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon. However, his season was hampered by a crash on the first stage of the Giro that forced him to leave the Italian grand tour on stage 5. He returned to competition in June in the Tour of Luxembourg and completed the Vuelta a Espana in September. He ended his season at the Tour of Beijing but didn't get any personal results in the final part of the year.

"The crash at the Giro was a turning point," he said. "I hit my right knee and rushed things as I tried to get selected for the Tour which I wasn't. So I took a breather ahead of the Vuelta. But I had another bad crash in Ordizia and missed San Sebastian."

The team had a successful Vuelta as Samuel Sanchez finished in the top 10 and Euskaltel won the teams classification. However, Urtasun didn't find much joy from the Spanish grand tour.

"The team's performance was pretty good and we rode for Samuel," he said. "However, he had a bad day on the first road stage and could not keep up with the best. The team was convinced that he could be on the podium. To this we must add the uncertain future. There was no bad atmosphere but on the podium in Madrid, it was more wistful than joyous. It was like a farewell."

If Urtasun is allowed to continue his career, he knows what he wants to achieve.

"I hope to be stronger and more regular," he said. "When I arrived at the team, it was difficult but now I can be in the front on some of the harder days. For example, I was one of the favourites in the Klasika Amorebieta and I ended up 2nd."

Regardless of his future team, he expects to have more freedom.

"I want to win at least two races in a season which I almost did last year," he said. "I won in [the Tour of] Britain but was second in La Rioja and on a stage in [the Vuelta a] Asturias. And I think I will have more freedom in my new team. I had some but logically, much was determined by Samuel in Euskaltel."

Urtasun isn't the only rider who has recently been linked with Caja Rural. Manager Juanma Hernandez recently confirmed to Marca that he has had negotiations with both Luis Leon Sanchez and Chris Horner but claimed that the duo needed to reduce their wage demands to be in contention for a spot on the roster.