Teams owed thousands as race organiser goes under

Women’s Tour of Scotland organiser folds with debts of £855,000

The organiser of the Women’s Tour of Scotland has gone out of business owing teams nearly £75,000 Cycling Weekly has learned. As we reported on 28 January, Zeus Sports, which organised the race, failed to pay a raft of teams and creditors following the event in August 2019.

A creditor’s report, seen by Cycling

Weekly, states the company ceased trading on 31 December and entered administration owing creditors £699,753. With just £5,651 in cash to pay them the report said they were likely to be left £694,102 out of pocket.

That combined with debts to shareholders took the total amount owed to £855,102.

Teams are owed £74,460 in expenses and prize money. Leah Thomas’s Bigla team won all the classifications including the GC. Zeus’s figures show the team are owed £20,650. Last autumn the team went out of business after sponsor Paule Ka withdrew.

Alé-cipollini leader Eugenia Bujak finished fourth overall and the team, now ALÉ-BTC Ljubljana, are still owed £6,500 (€7,400). In a statement the team said: “On average every year our team collects €70,000 (from the fees of race organisers). It was a big trip in terms of travel costs and these were expenses that we incurred and were never reimbursed.

“Organisers usually pay within a couple of months after the race. The Tour of Scotland is the only race that hasn’t paid, at least in the last two years.”

International teams aren’t the only ones to lose out. Before joining the UCI Continental ranks as Cams-tifosi, Brother-tifosi were the UK’S most successful domestic team, and while they are only owed £470 it still makes a difference. Team boss Simon Howes told

CW: “We ran a tight budget, and riders might pay for their own travel, so all the money we made from sponsorship or through winnings went to the riders.”

Voxwomen provided TV highlights for the race and received part of its fee upfront. It has since received £1,000, but the outstanding £26,000, due seven days after the race, has never materialised.

Voxwomen owner Anthony Mccrossan said the experience had “left a pretty bitter taste in the mouth”. “I would like to see learning for the future that there is a checks and balances process put in place by Eventscotland and British Cycling for new [international] events,” he said. “Someone just looks and asks is this event fit to run or are we exposing suppliers who are supporting the event to greater risk.”

Event Scotland funded the race to the tune of £100,000 and said it ran credit and due diligence checks and was unaware of Zeus’s financial difficulties until after the race. It said: “At no time prior to the event taking place did we have any reason to question Zeus’s ability to stage the event successfully.”

Other creditors include Matsport timing systems, which is owed £9,000, and Police Scotland, which is owed £104,000. The taxman is also owed £7,000.

The company’s creditors report states the race “was subject to raising enough funds via the public sector and the private sector in terms of sponsorship” but that it missed those targets.

Zeus managing director Darren Clayton said he was unable for comment for this piece. In January he said: “This was deeply disappointing for everyone involved including the teams who invested their valuable time to compete, and the sponsors, suppliers and contractors who worked tirelessly to make the event possible.”