Jonathan Vaughters has shared his views on Oleg Tinkov and his decision to leave cyclism. The Cannondale-Garmin team manager thinks that the main factor is the current cost structure for pro teams. In an interview with Cyclingnews, he claims that the Russian billionaire helped manipulate a worrying idea which pevents teams from sustaining their longevity in the peloton.

Oleg Tinkov has decided to put an end to his involvement in cycling and the Russian tycoon has told that 2016 will be his last year as main sponsor and owner of Alberto Contador's and Peter Sagan's team. Tinkov is disappointed not to have been able to implement his ideas and leaves the sport for personal and professional reasons.

"I’m not surprised he decided to do this. He was putting a lot into the team. I think it was around 60 million. No matter how wealthy you are that’s a lot of money to lose as an owner when you don’t have any way of recouping that money in the current way cycling is structured. Essentially you’re not actually investing the money, you’re donating it. He was effectively donating money to the ‘save the Alberto Contador salary fund’," Vaughters told Cyclingnews.

Tinkov has said that in order to have teams more stable over time, ASO and other organisers have to release television revenue to the WorldTour teams. "There’s got to be some fundamental changes if we want a more sustainable system," Vaughters says. "Everyone talks about getting their hands on ASO’s television revenue, however I don't agree with this. It's premature. We need to add value to their events, before we dive into their profits. Which we can do! But it will take time. In the meantime, if you simply cut a cheque from TV revenues it’s not going to sustain a team. And imagine you get that cheque, so does everyone else, all it would do would be to inflate the salary market of the very few top riders in bidding wars. The money would be burnt through and it wouldn’t add anything to the context of stability."

When Oleg Tinkov has arrived in the peloton, he wanted to change the model for the sport. "It’s funny he’s complaining about the broken financial model in cycling when he was the one who drove the inflation. I like Oleg but his ideas of having franchises and distribution of media rights are old and have been tried by many, in fact they go back to the original ProTour with Hein Verbruggen. Tinkov drove up the market value and then says shit it’s too expensive, I’m out. There needs to be some more firmly established financial rules for the game because he is a little bit of a victim of his own sword."