August 1, 2008 (France) — The Credit Agricole pro cycling team has been unable to find a new title sponsor and has released its cyclists, effective today, according to a statement in French on the team website.

“The excellent season [experienced] by France’s best [cycling] team with 23 victories, including two stage victories at the Tour de France and the willingness of the cyclists to continue working together were not sufficient to convince a new [commercial] partner [to sponsor the team],” reads part of that statement.

The 26 cyclists with this ProTour team, including Thor Hushovd, Simon Gerrans, Pierre Rolland, Remi Pauriol and Mark Renshaw, are free to sign with other squads. Several reports suggest that these cyclists have given team owner Roger Legeay another two weeks to find a new sponsor before definitively leaving. The team website indicates that Legeay will continue his quest for a new sponsor until September 30, 2008. If a sponsor is not found by that date, the team will fold.

Credit Agricole, a French bank, has sponsored the cycling team since 1997. Before that the team was known as Z-Peugeot, Z, and GAN. American Greg LeMond won his third Tour de France with Z in 1990. Canada’s Montreal-based Calyon Cycling Team is affiliated with Credit Agricole, but we have had no communication from Calyon about how this might affect things here.

Another ProTour team, Gerolsteiner, is struggling to find a new sponsor and an announcement on that team’s progress is expected in the next few days.

For more on this story the Credit Agricole Team website (press release in French) is here, or Reuters (in French).