Euskaltel-Euskadi waved goodbye to the peloton in the Tour of Beijing today but most of their riders head into the winter break with uncertainty over their future. Only 4 of the team's 27 riders have found a team for the 2014 season.

An era came to an end in today's final stage of the Tour of Beijing when the Euskaltel-Euskadi team participated in their final race. Having been unable to find a new sponsor, the team announced its demise when the negotiations with Fernando Alonso broke down.

Most of the team's 27 riders face an uncertain future as they head into the off-season without a contract for 2014. Only Mikel Nieve (Sky), Mikel Landa (Astana) and the Izagirre brothers Ion and Gorka (both Movistar) have found a new home for the coming season.

Of the remaining 23 riders, only two seem to be on the verge of signing a contract. Igor Anton has recently held a meeting with Omega Pharma-Quick Step manager Patrick Lefevre and is now waiting for the Belgian team to make a final offer. Europcar manager Jean-Rene Bernaudeau has made it clear that he wants to sign former U23 world champion Romain Sicard if the team gets a ProTeam license which would force them to hire three additional riders.

The remaining riders have not been linked with any teams. Not even team leader Samuel Sanchez who finished 8th in the recent Vuelta a Espana has been able to attract the attention of any team and has admitted that he is now getting used to the idea of ending his career.

Strong domestiques likes Egoi Martinez, Gorka Verdugo, Juan Jose Oroz, Jorge Azanza, Pablo Urtasun and Ruben Perez who amongst them have ridden 31 Tours de France, are all left without a contract for next season. The same goes for the young talents Garikoitz Bravo who was 10th in the Tour of Beijing, sprinter Ion Aberasturi who was 8th in the Paris-Tours, Pello Bilbao, Ricardo Garcia, sprinter Juan Jose Lobato who has won two races this year and wore the mountains jersey in the Tour de France, Adrian Saez and Miguel Minguez may all have to end their career at a very young age. Mikel Astarloza has decided to end his career.

Finally, the team's foreigners Ioannis Tamouridis, Ricardo Mestre, Robert Vrecer, Steffen Radochla, Andre Schulze  and Jure Kocjan all find themselves in a position of uncertainty after just one year at ProTeam level.

The team ended on a fine note in the Tour of Beijing when Bravo finished 10th overall. Sports director Alvaro Gonzalez de Galdeano was satisfied with the performance in the farewell race.

"We are pleased with the results," he said. "We finished  in the top 10 in the final standings. The commitment has paid off for Garikoitz Bravo and he was even the second best young rider in the Tour of Beijing. In short, we're leave the race with the feeling of a job well done. "

Euskaltel only won 6 races in their final race of existence.