Adam Blythe handed career lifeline but Ed Clancy's British team folds

Adam Blythe, the former British road race champion from Sheffield, has been handed a career lifeline by Belgian-based World Tour team Lotto Soudal.
Adam Blythe has moved to Lotto Soudal after Aqua Blue Sport collapsed. (Picture: Bruce Rollinson)Adam Blythe has moved to Lotto Soudal after Aqua Blue Sport collapsed. (Picture: Bruce Rollinson)
Adam Blythe has moved to Lotto Soudal after Aqua Blue Sport collapsed. (Picture: Bruce Rollinson)

The 28-year-old was one of 15 riders who found themselves unemployed when Irish pro-continental team Aqua Blue Sport folded earlier this month due to a lack of sponsorship.

Blythe, who beat Mark Cavendish to the national title in 2016, said: “At the age of twenty, I did an internship at Lotto-Soudal – Omega Pharma-Lotto back then and was able to join the World Tour team afterwards. I’m really excited to return and it’s a real privilege to be racing for this renowned cycling team once again.”

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Blythe will be used in the leadout train for Australian sprinter Caleb Ewan and in the Spring Classics.

Ed Clancy
's JLT Condor will fold at the end of the year.Ed Clancy
's JLT Condor will fold at the end of the year.
Ed Clancy 's JLT Condor will fold at the end of the year.

The news came on the same day that British team JLT Condor announced they were folding at the end of the season due to a lack of sponsorship.

JLT was Britain’s longest-running continental team having started in 2007. They had been home to a host of Yorkshire riders, including in 2018 alone, Ed Clancy, Graham Briggs, Tom Moses, Tom Stewart and Ollie Wood.