Paolo Bettini has definitely confirmed that the Fernando Alonso project has been shelved for now. However, he doesn't rule out that the plans will be put back on track in the future.

In an e-mail that Procycling.no has seen, Paolo Bettini has closed the doors for the Fernando Alonso project for the 2015 season.

"Unfortunately, the Alosno project has been put completely on hold for reasons that I cannot elaborate on. I still don't know about the intentions for the future," Paolo Bettini writes,

The Formula 1 star Fernando Alonso was first linked to cycling when I tried to buy the Euskaltel-Euskadi license last autumn. The attempt failed and instead he tried to create a new WorldTour team for the 2015 season.

One of the probleme for Bettini who was part of the recruitment process, and the management company Novo Group Holdings was the fact that they could not guarantee the riders that they had a license before October 1. In the meantime, riders like Alejandro Valverde, Edvald Boasson Hagen and Peter Sagan disappeared from the transfer market. Bettini talked to riders at Tirreno-Adriatico and during the sprint but no one was signed.

In the application provess, the UCI requires the teams to have a bank guarantee of 975,000 Swiss Francsand a list of 10 riders under contract before October 1. Before October 20, they need to have 15 riders on their roster. It is not clear whether all contracts have to be signed but all riders have to made their intentions clear before December 1.

At the deadline, Alondo and Novo Group Holdings had not applied for a WorldTour or a pro continental license for the 2015 season but they have not given any reason for the fact that the project has now been shelved.

It is now a fact that the 2015 season will take place without the Formula One driver. However, Bettini indicates that the project could be put back on track in the future.

"If the decision is taken to try to create a team, it will be a pleasure to be dedicated to the project and to use all my experience to the good of the riders," the former world champion writes.

Bettini quit his job as national coach of the Italian team to take on his new role with Alonso's project.