The World Tour CCC team is facing the loss of its main title sponsor after the Polish shoe company announced a loss of PLN 340 million (EUR 75 million) in the first quarter of 2020 compared to 2019.

According to Bankier.pl (opens in new tab), the CCC group has signed agreements with several banks to secure funding for the next 12 months. The company may be forced to cancel all sports sponsorships in order to restructure its second-quarter spending.

The group expects to need cash to cover store closures in Germany, settlements with landlords of stores already closed in Central Europe, and "closure of activities related to sports sponsorships contracted for 2020-2021," the report noted.

It is not yet known whether this closure will include the fulfillment of all obligations to the CCC and CCC-Liv Teams.

According to Wielerflits.nl (opens in new tab), the CCC-Liv Women's Team has its own contracts with sponsors and has fulfilled its obligations so far this year, while the Men's Team has laid off staff and cut player salaries to save future losses.

"We have had to temporarily suspend all but a handful of staff and cut player salaries significantly to ensure we have the budget to race when the season resumes," coach Jim Ochowicz said earlier this month. 'As soon as we are able to resume racing, we hope to get as many of our support staff back on board as possible so we can review our budget.'

The economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic has only begun to spill over into cycling. With racing suspended for more than a month and unlikely to resume in the near future, teams such as Astana, Lotto Soudal, Bahrain McLaren, and Mitchelton Scott have cut riders' salaries, and even the UCI has been forced to take cost-cutting measures.

Ronnie Lauke, president of the women's riders' union, suggested that some teams may not survive the pandemic, while others, like Team Sunweb, have already renewed their riders' contracts.