One of U.S. cycling鈥檚 biggest sponsors, Exergy Development Group, owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid sponsorship invoices and is now facing potential legal action. If Exergy proves unable to fulfill its obligations, the impact on cycling in the U.S. would be devastating. Few sponsors are more deeply woven into the U.S. scene than Exergy: they sponsor USA Cycling, all of the country鈥檚 top stage races, and the country鈥檚 most prestigious women鈥檚 race. They also fund two teams, a men鈥檚 team and the Exergy Twenty12 women鈥檚 team, home to two-time gold medalist Kristin Armstrong. While both teams report they鈥檝e received funding, other vendors have yet to be paid. Exergy CEO James Carkulis sent out emails last Friday detailing the company鈥檚 inability to meet its obligations, and promised to hand-deliver checks at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah. 鈥 when it鈥檚 come to our normal business practices,鈥 Carkulis said. 鈥淲e have tens of millions of dollars that are invested into our [energy] projects and we鈥檝e had a number of delays in our financial closings.鈥 Carkulis failed to show at the Tour of Utah, but has subsequently promised to pay the debts as soon as possible.
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