The Euskaltel-Euskadi team may be saved from folding at the end of the current season with Formula 1 driver and long-time cycling fan Fernando Alonso confirming today that he is in talks to acquire its WorldTour licence - although the man who has won 32 Grands Prix admits he is in a race "against the clock" to get everything finalised to enable the team to start the 2014 season.

The news was broken this lunchtime on the personal website of the 32-year-old Spaniard, twice world champion. Yesterday evening, the Ferrari driver had tweeted that he was due to reveal “important news,” prompting speculation that he may switch teams.

Instead, the statement on his website, published in full below, revealed that he has reached “an initial agreement” to buy out Euskaltel-Euskadi’s licence, for a reported price of €6 million.

The team, the oldest in the peloton, revealed last month that it was set to disappear following nearly two decades in the sport after it proved impossible to find a replacement sponsor found for the Basque institutions that had previously helped finance it but which are now unable to maintain their backing in the face of Spain’s continuing economic crisis.

While fans of the team might be ill-advised to crack open the Cava just yet, they might want to put it on ice; however, the statement concludes by cautioning that there is now a race "against the clock... in order to be capable of starting the first races of the 2014 season with a new team, full of desire and with a fighting spirit."

Alonso was previously linked with a move into professional cycling in 2010, when he confirmed in an interview with the Guardian that he was considering setting up a team with Alberto Contador. Spanish bank Santander were being rumoured to be sponsoring the outfit, which would have ridden Colnago bikes - the Italian brand has a longstanding partnership with Ferrari.

That never materialised, but today’s news confirms that Alonso’s intentions are serious. He says that should the deal be finalised, current contracts will be honoured, which will reunite him with another star Spanish cyclist with whom ha has trained in the past – Samuel Sanchez, who like the Formula 1 star, hails from the city of Oviedo in the Asturias region of northwest Spain.

Fernando Alonso statement