You heard it hinted here first – vegetarian cycling squad Linda Mc Cartney / Jacobs Creek / Jaguar may have had their chips.

General manager, and team founder, Julian Clarke has resigned leaving manager Sean Yates and top rider Max Sciandri to try and resume negotiations with McCartney foods and other sponsors. A planned launch meeting on Friday has been cancelled, with riders being told of the news when they arrived for a pre breefing yesterday.
Apparently team personnel are officially staying resolute behind Yates and Sciandri, but there are also rumours of a scramble to try and re-locate. No official reason has been given for the collpase coming so soon after the Jaguar sponsorship deal was announced, but there have been reports of unpaid salaries and we know cheques to bike componentry suppliers have ‘bounced’ in the last few days.

Whether this is linked to failure to get selection for this years tour is unknown, but it may be a significant factor. A big shame, just when they’d had a cracking start to the year with a solo stage win in the Tour Down Under.