[jyl]

Fernando Alonso will purchase the financially struggling Euskaltel-Euskadi cycling team.

The Euskaltel-Euskadi is one of 19 (?) World Tour pro cycling teams, that is the top level of professional road cycling - Tour de France, Gire d'Italia, Vuelta a Espana and all that. The team has a long and unusual history, having been set up as a Basque team with only Basque riders, and funded by the Basque telecoms company (Euskaltel) and a local government entity (Euskadi). With the deep recession in Spain, Euskadi had to drop out and Euskaltel was unable to fill the gap, so the team was set to dissolve at the end of this year.

Fernando Alonso apparently a cycling fan, a friend of Samuel Sanchez (top rider for Euskaltel-Euskadi) and of Spanish TdF champ Alberto Contador. He reportedly rides with them sometimes.

Details are scarce, for example who Alonso's partners and the other sponsors might be.

Is this unprecedented? An active F1 driver buying a sporting team? Does it suggest that Alonso's focus on the track may be dimming?