KEIGHLEY cycling veteran Tom Barras is facing a race against time to find funds to keep one of the country's most successful domestic teams in action next season.

Barras, who is the son of Steeton-based cycling legend Sid, is manager of the team formerly known as NFTO, whose founder and backer John Wood retired recently.

The 38-year-old has the infrastructure in place to continue running a team at the UCI Continental level they have been operating at but the finance of a major title sponsor is lacking.

With the sport as popular as ever, particularly in his home county of Yorkshire, Barras is desperately hoping to find new investment.

He said: "I took on the manager's role this year after my last year of riding in 2015. It was a great honour – what was even more of an honour in September was the owner of NFTO passed the team across to me but unfortunately I haven't been able make ends meet because of finance.

"We've got everything else – the bikes, the riders, the cars, the staff, the helmets, the shoes, the lot.

"If we can get a sponsor by January we can be on the start line in March – finding the right bikes, cars and staff can be difficult but we have got that. We just need a title sponsor to spearhead us."

Barras said he could run a smaller team but does not want to devalue what has been achieved under the NFTO banner.

He said he had been let down by a sponsor he had lined up after Wood had handed over the reins to him. That has left him with a race to find alternatives since the beginning of November and he admits it has been tough – though he has certainly not given up hope.

He said: "It's not all over by a long shot. I have a sports agency trying to find backing. It's still quite exciting as anything could happen."

Barras, who grew up in Steeton before studying at Loughborough University and then embarking on a cycling career in Belgium, said a company could put their name to his team for £150,000.

He reckons such an investment would be value for money, considering the '40 to 50 hours of TV coverage' that would come with it and given the record of the team, which included Pool-in-Wharfedale rider Josh Edmondson this year.

Speaking of their success, Barras refers to their 'postcard shot' in 2014, which saw Adam Blythe pip Sky's Ben Swift to win the prestigious RideLondon race.

"That was a domestic British team rider beating a World Tour rider down the Mall – it doesn't get any better than that," said Barras, whose dad Sid is renowned for once beating cycling great Eddy Merckx.

"We upset the odds again this year when our rider Ian Bibby beat Swift and his Sky team-mate Pete Kennaugh to win the Manx International GP.

"It's what makes our current situation all the more frustrating."

The growth in the popularity of cycling is no where better illustrated than in Barras' own county.

It was announced last month that the third Tour de Yorkshire race will run through his home district of Keighley again, as it did in the inaugural staging in 2015 when Barras rode for NFTO (which stands for Not For The Ordinary). The Road World Championships are also being hosted by the white rose county.

The Laycock-born rider said: "To have rode and managed in the Tour de Yorkshire was brilliant and I feel very proud to have done that."

But Barras admits that his team are not the only ones finding financial backing hard to come by. Fellow British team OnePro – fronted by former England cricketer Matt Prior – have announced they would be stepping down a level due to a funding shortfall.

Barras said: "Funding has become tighter. The sport is booming with lots of success on the track and road but retail is struggling because margins are so tight.

"It's not just our team that is feeling the pinch."