Sky to end team sponsorship after 2019 season

Team Sky will end its involvement in cycling in 2019 after more than a decade of backing.

The most successful cycling team of the last decade lost its sponsorship by European pay TV giant Sky.

The company withdrew from the sport after its takeover by American company Comcast.

Team Sky with Britain's Geraint Thomas, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, sets the pace for the pack during the fifteenth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 181.5 kilometers (112.8 miles) with start in Millau and finish in Carcassonne, France, France, Sunday July 22, 2018. [Photo: AP]

Team Sky will require new ownership if it is to continue competing — under a new name — from 2020.

In the summer Geraint Thomas became the third Team Sky rider to win the Tour de France, the team's sixth success at the race in seven years.