Just when we thought the Phonak drama had peaked, team owner Andy Rihs hits us with another curve, announcing he will shut down the team at the end of the year. Motivated by, recent events, Rihs sights financial and licensing issues as major obstacles to the team’s continuance. We’re guessing that funding Phonak going forward would have been an uphill battle at best since iShares and Rihs decided to terminate the their agreement early. As of now, the team plans to finish out the ’06 year, which might mean that existing Phonak riders will put on quite the show as they try to generate some attention from other teams.

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