Colombian oil company lines up bid for Team Sky

Colombian state-owned oil company Ecopetrol has emerged as a candidate to take over Team Sky.

Sir Dave Brailsford, Team Sky’s principal, met with Colombian president Ivan Duque and representatives from the country’s sports ministry Coldeportes earlier in the week, according to a report in newspaper El Espectador.

The Daily Telegraph understands that Brailsford will be joined by other senior Sky staff over the weekend as the British team investigate the possibility of a takeover.

Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport yesterday named Ecoseat petrol as the possible leader of a consortium prepared to take on the $30million (£23.4million) per-year sponsorship.

In December, Sky Plc announced its intention to quit the sport at the end of this year, bringing to an end one of the most controversial sponsorships in British sporting history.

Brailsford, who is also in South America to watch his team compete in the Tour Colombia, has described the country’s cycling potential as enormous. As well as Egan Bernal, Sky have Colombians Ivan Sosa and Sebastian Henao on their books.

“The wealth of talent that exists in this country is second to none,” Brailsford said in Medellin last weekend. “To me, it’s just one step away from what Brazil is to football. Colombia could be the same thing to cycling. It’s there for them.”