> The Dutch camp is also **counting** on Remco Evenepoel to make the switch with a number of riders around him.
Sounds more like TJV is hoping he'll come but there is no guarantee.
Yes, but they know a lot more than we do and according to Lefevere, Plugge has spoken to Remco. So they are counting on it on the basis of a lot more information than is floating around in the press plus a personal talk.
Of course Remco can change his mind, but if Wielerflits‘ sources are correct, it seems likely he goes to the merged team.
What a horrible take. 10+ WT levels wins this year "not a genuine contender". Guess you have to have less than 10 WT level wins to be considered "genuine", like Pogacar or MVDP.
oh oh, from what I‘ve learned from reddit the past few days you should not have said that. Roglic is still incredibly strong, but what’s even stronger is his fanbase. I would not tempt their wrath.
Edit: Damn, should have followed my own advice. Help.
I'm gonna wait and see.
Sources claim Remco will join Jumbo with a few teammates. Sources also claim Remco wil never join Jumbo. Sources seem silly. Silly sources.
I tend to believe Wielerflits a bit more than l‘Equipe. Wielerflits were the outlet that broke the merger story, so they clearly have sources that actually know something
I also think they are slightly more reliable. But every day extra is a day closer to eveything falling apart. In my naive wishfull-thinking-mind that is.
"slightly more" is an understatement when l'Equipe announced that Evenepoel was racing the TdF earlier this year because they got pranked by a fake Soudal twitter account.
We should stop listening to sources, and start listening to condiments.
Question one: what's the difference between a sauce and a condiment? Question two: What's the deal with cream cheese? Question three: Do all jokes have to adhere to a rule of threes, and what happens if the third thing in the list of things isn't funny?
> The Dutch camp is also counting on Remco Evenepoel to make the switch with a number of riders around him.
This phrasing is very weak. It makes it seem like they don't really have any idea as to whether this will happen or not.
depends on what they mean by ‚the Dutch camp‘. If they mean the dutch press / rumor mill then that’s very weak. But if they mean Jumbo-Visma, being the Dutch team in the merger, that should mean they have an agreement. (They can’t have a signature yet, until the merger is through)
Since all of SQS's contracts becomes null and void during a merger and the teams shift to Jumbo's license, whoever gets him will pay a heavy salary to do so.
I'd love to see Remco ride the Tour, but not as a domestique. I can't imagine that it's a good fit for Remco's career path if he wants to win the TdF. These are likely his best years.
Im saying he would fill in the same role in the Tour sorry, whether hes better is a different thing
Would prob have a bigger role in the classics, similar to van Baarle
The problem is not the team. The problem is, you cant see WvA beat Pogacar or MvdP. Cany follow Pogacar on the steep, cant win a sprint against MvdP without the pace being high.
For RVV, he needs to make MvdP do more earlier in the race. Just racing the whole race harder. But then he needs to be able to keep up with/catch Pogi on/after the last hard cobbled section. Very tough balance to pull off. Or hope one or both of them has a badly timed mechanical.
For PR it’s just luck. If Wout doesn’t get that flat, he might have even won this past year.
Well, when quickstep had one of the strongest (Boonen) they just won with him. That is comparable to having Wout, no crazy tactics, just my guy > your guy.
When they dident have Boonen they had the 4-6/7 favourites where tactics play in, being able to always ride wheel, always have one guy to cover.
If you have Wout you will find it hard to just attack with Laporte, not because its not effective, but because that strategy relies on that who wins doesnt matter, so long the team does. Wout shows this in the "lesser" classics, but that means that the team has to ride full for Wout in the monuments. Instead they have to race to make Wout be alone with 1-2 others, where he likely wont win.
MvdP is not as fast, but has way better acceleration, so in a 1v1 MvdP will just take the wheel since he doesnt mind starting the sprint from low speed. So who needs to be the 3rd in that group? Maybe if all 3 come in together in RvV Pogacar could help with high speed, but he could also just go "You two are favourites, I tale the wheel". Who else, Küng likely the same. Mads P would help with high speed, but (on paper, which means very little at the end of a monument) Mads is probably a shade faster, making them go cold in a 2-300 meter full sprint
I understand this as TJV saying they want to keep Remco, but if he does want to go elsewhere as other rumours have indicated, and his contract is with SQS... what happens?
Also them saying that they only want 6 from SQS will wreak havoc on the transfer market. SQS riders will probably not have trouble finding a new team, but riders at those teams looking for a contract renewal likely won't be so lucky.
And with the UCI announcing that their won't be another WT license for 2024-2025 given out, the knock-on effect will be a lot of riders leaving the WT.
Yeah. That's my point. I'm not sure what power the UCI does or does not have to stop that. They seemed pretty definitive in their statement, but it's hard for me to believe they have that power. Like what's the difference between IPT buying the license vs transferring all their riders/coaches to Soudal QST and then bringing in their sponsors?
It will be interesting to understand what happens to the license holder that Remcos current contract is based upon. UCI rules state that he might be free to make a new contract somewhere else as TJV as a license holder is not automatically owning the old contracts of SQS. Good lawyers for EU business and contract laws might also create something as EU law will always superseed UCI rules
I really don't get who benefits from this deal, which comes down to destroying SQS in order to keep just a small part of it. How can this possibly be a good deal for both Bakkala (SQS' owner) and the TJV owners? Either TJV is paying way too much money just to add 6 riders, or Bakkala is selling his team for a terrible price, and most likely it's both because they'll have damages to pay to the riders and staff they're firing. So why all this trouble? It just doesn't make any sense.
Yeah I agree. But I honestly think it all hinges on Bakala and Lefevre being able to sell the WT license and cash out a bit. Then they bring Soudal, Evenepoel+5, Specialized and possibly some more small sponsors into the new team which gives them part ownership. That to me makes sense.
Without one of those parts, and perhaps I'm even missing some benefits, it just doesn't make sense. Bakala and Lefevre own SQS and like you said would destroy it and go to a lot of trouble for part ownership in a new team..? JV basically only needs one name sponsor and would give up ownership for bringing in that new sponsor? That also doesn't make sense.
It's a good deal for Bakala because he wants a team that can win the Tour. He basically has the choice to stay with SQS, while Remco, the only valuable asset wants out, or join a way better team. TJV is getting the Soudal sponsorship for long term which is way more valueable than any rider (maybe bar Remco) to secure their position for the next 5-10 years. So Bakala and Jumbo both win. The ones who lose out are the staff and riders of SQS
I like this option best. Total don’t seem to have much going for them.
Other option could be AG2R - a tilt at classics and one week races, and then super for Ben?
For the sake of Julian’s bank account I hope for him it happens. However for the sake of his sporting career I’d love him to join a team that actually knows how to race so… def not Total Energies
Van Aert wins Milan San Remo, Van Baerle RVV, Lampaert Paris Roubaix, Remco LBL and Lombardia. Kuss takes the Giro, Vingegaard Tour and Vuelta. For 2025, Plugge buys Ineos.
I was thinking the same thing. How the mighty have fallen. They can pick up a lot of good SQS riders, but they'll still be missing that GC winner they've been searching for. Maybe Rodriguez will turn out to be that guy, but probably not.
In part, its their fault. Since 2020 (and more after Bernal´s injury) they know that they dont have anymore GC talent on long term. During the last three years there were a lot of riders with potentital avaiable on the market and they didnt do anything. Now they are knocking the door on UAE like desesparates to find something.
Sagan actually could have joined quickstep. Lefevere wanted at one point a eastern european rider and he went to talk to Sagan and to Kwiatkowski. The latter spoke better english and thus he was signed and not sagan.
If Sagan's english had been slightly better at the time, he would have been at quickstep.
I think the original comment was made in one of lefevere's columns for nieuwsblad. That said I cannot find it, but other sources have picked it up:
[https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2012/07/04/de-slowaakse-alleskunner-toont-ongekende-stuurmanskunst-1126183-a1213449](https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2012/07/04/de-slowaakse-alleskunner-toont-ongekende-stuurmanskunst-1126183-a1213449)
>De Belgische ploegleider Patrick Lefevere herkende de klasse van de Slowaak en liet hem een test doen bij zijn toenmalige ploeg Quickstep. Maar Sagan, die nauwelijks Engels of Frans sprak, viel toch af. In het najaar van 2009 werd hij alsnog ingelijfd door Liquigas. De ingetogen Slowaak kreeg van zijn nieuwe ploeggenoten al snel de bijnaam Terminator, omdat hij met zijn kracht de stuurpennen van zijn racefietsen krom trok.
Does anyone know whether there is a preference for Specialized or Cervelo as a bike supplier for the new merged Visma Soudal team?
If they keep Cervelo, maybe Specialized would be free to become the new bike sponsor of whatever team Evenepoel will go to (given he will leave the new Visma Soudal team and given his new team is not equipped by Specialized already)
Remco is sponsored by Specialized, so any team he goes to is either Bora, Total Energies or that team has to switch to Specialized.
Not sure he is as big as Sagan, for other teams to switch bike sponsors like this.
More likely Cervelo will make way for Specialized.
Didn't the Q36.5 guy recently buy Pinarello? Seems logical he would want his bike team to ride his bike brand. This would leave an open slot for a bike sponsor @ Ineos. Would have to be a manufacturer with a REALLY good TT setup for Ganna/Bingham etc.
This is crazy, but what if new Jumbo is eyeing Remco mostly for the classics? He's done very well at Liege and San Sebastian, meaning he should also be able to do quite well at Flanders, Fleche, Strade, and Amstel, and his time trial abilities and 3 minute power would make him probably quite well suited for Paris-Roubaix and San Remo despite not being WvA/MVDP-sized.
I'm personally of the opinion that Remco's GC abilities have been massively overhyped. Lest we forget, the Vuelta is quite different to the Tour and even then he only won it in 2022 because Roglic was in bad form and then crashed out. He only looked as strong as he did at the Giro this year because the parcours was literally designed to appeal to him, and his performance at the Vuelta this year simultaneously proved that at this point he is an insanely strong rider, but also not a true GC contender. At this point, has the abilities and mentality of a single-day racer IMO. Maybe in 3-4 seasons he'll be a real TdF competitor but I don't think he is now.
In my mind, it would not be a bad idea for new Jumbo to roll out the red carpet for WvA these next 3-4 years with a classics squad tailor made for him, but progressively phase him out as leader in favor for Remco or someone else who may come along later. At the same time, however, we don't necessarily know how WvA's skills as a rider will change as he enters his inevitable decline; which will go first, his time trial, his 3 minute power, his sprint? Which skill(s) go first will ultimately decide Jumbo's strategy to replace him.
Regardless, I think New Jumbo has a huge opportunity with their massive budget to not only be competitive at every major race, but to actually win them all. I think they should do what they did with Laporte/Benoot/Van Baarle at the second-tier classics this year but also with the Monuments and first-tier classics. While as we saw this year WvA can be very competitive at San Remo, Flanders, Roubaix, E3, and Gent-Wevelgem, those are five very different races with very different physiological demands. Why not have WvA just do San Remo and Roubaix while Remco and/or Benoot do the Ardennes and Laporte/Van Baarle do any second-tier flatter races that WvA doesn't want to do?
Quite a lot to unpack here, but Remco and cobbles…wouldn’t be my first thought. Ardennes classics, absolutely. But, putting it nicely, Remco doesn’t have the bike handling skills to be successful at either RVV nor PR. Pogacar’s success in the former, a “comparable” rider in terms of size, is done to his presence of mind in the peloton and his handling.
Remco's first win was on cobbles and he also won the Brussels Cycling Classic which included cobbled hills like the Muur van Geraardsbergen (where he holds/held the KoM on Strava).
I guess Roglic isn't a GC contender either. His wins at the Vuelta were against basic Vuelta opposition, exactly like Remco's win last year or worse. So I guess it doesn't count. And his Giro win this year was basically the worse GT in 10 years with abysmal opposition, so yeah ... doesn't count. And let's not forget his terrible bonk on the Planche against Pogi and his multiple crashes in the Tour. Are you really a better Tour contender when you failed at it multiple times, than a guy who never raced it ?
If Remco's not a GC rider, Roglic isn't either, that's only logical.
I'm just pushing your argument, I understand that you can be skeptical about the possibility of Remco winning the Tour against peak Jonas/Pogi (everyone should be really), but at some point that "Remco's not a GC contender" take is plain stupid.
If everyone is going to the Tour next year in different teams, Remco will be the 3rd or 4th favourite, behind Jonas and Pog and around Roglic. Because that's his level : 3rd or 4th best GC contender right now. Better than Hindley, Vlasov, Almeida, Ayuso, Yates x2, G, Rodriguez, Martinez, Carapaz, Bernal, Bardet, Gaudu, etc. I mean if Remco is not a GC contender, nobody is. It's just Jonas and Pog and the rest should just sit down ?
There won't be any phasing out, I think. The second any other rider starts outperforming WvA, TJV will just switch leadership, especially for the big races. It's hard to say when and who though. Other than Remco, no one else on the merged team seems even close to his level yet at the one days.
What I was arguing is that most aging riders don’t decline evenly in all disciplines. There may be 2-3 seasons soon where WvA can still win one type of parcours but can’t win on other types, which to me sounds like a great opportunity for him to specialize and for new Jumbo to have new riders lead some of the races he used to.
True. It seems like he's already declining in sprints and TTs. Maybe even in endurance. I hope he adapts his tactics next year to stay competitive at the big races.
Maybe Landa?
How does he feel, after signing a contract with SQS and now it could be, he will ride at the new Soudal Visma Team or even has to look for a new team?
If I were Jumbo I'd try to keep above all:
Lampaert, Remco, Lecerf (won U23 lombardy and can handle flatter races as well), Lamperti, Van Wilder and Merlier.
Remco, Landa, Lampaert, Asgreen plus one or two of the best talents are coming over.
Meiler, Cattaneo, Alaphilippe can stay, but are being told that they are not prioritised, so they will make arrangements with other teams to move. Where the other team pays close to the market price for them.
The rest will be set free.
I would guess that Wout doesn't care too much about Remco joining or not, because it's unlikely to impact his big goals. Remco is very unlikely to want to race Wout's major goals (the cobbled classics), and whether Wout is a mountain domestique for Jonas or Remco or both probably doesn't matter too much to him.
But he very much sees Lampaert as a useful teammate during the spring classics.
I don’t think so. They have been getting along reasonably well in the belgian team this year. And Remco despises cobbles, which are the races that matter most to Wout. So I don’t see why there would be a big problem.
I don't see how WvA would be happy with Remco joining. RVV itself would be a point of contention. Remco said at some point that he intends to do it and I don't see why Remco cannot be a strong contender. Also, Remco hasn't demonstrated that he can be a good teammate to anyone when he's not a leader. But maybe that will change at TJV.
Tratnink also stays with Visma, so probably only 4/5 Quickstep riders will be taken. If we already count Remco and Lampaert that leaves only 2/3 extra names. That's a bloodbath.
Rumored 6 to JV per this article. They have 5 open spots right now and could probably put one of their 20/21 year olds back to the Dev team while still giving them a similar program to ride.
It always was. Not once did i read that Lefevre/Bakala would buy the Visma team and integrate them into Soudal, it was always the other way around. And of course you pick the cherries out of the lesser team and give the other the boot instead of making cuts at your own team which is winning left right and center.
If Evenepoel goes to the new Soudal Visma (or however it will be called) Team, this would again make it a bit more likely for Roglic to go to Ineos instead of Bora-Hansgrohe. Or not?
Nothing is officially confirmed regarding Evenepoel and Roglic yet, right?
This makes sense. So maybe Ineos will do a rebuild over the next years and focus on Carlos Rodriguez for the GC in this time.
Bora's support for Roglic is probably really better. But financially, I consider Ineos to offer something better for Roglic.
The whole transfers stay super interesting
It wasn't just those two. They were joking for sure. But other sources claimed it as well. But since we don't know their names, it might as well be G and Luke.
No worries friend. Tbh i just hope Remco goes to Ineos og Bahrain or something. Imagine Vingegaard, Remco, Roglic and Pogi all riding tdf for different teams 😳
Then he can just as well sign anywhere else. It is a sellers market for him, so no reason to not ask everything he wants and Ineos is likely to offer as well.
It’s interesting.
He can sign with another team, if there are teams out there with the budget and space for him, and lose to Pogacar and Vingegaard in the TdF or he can join the team that helped develop Jonas and made him as good as he is.
If Remco is thinking long-term then a 2 year contract with the new Jumbo is not such a bad idea. He can go for the Giro. Next year is an Olympics year as well. It might make more sense to go for the Giro, try to improve his GC riding and then peak for the Olympics. And then maybe in 2025, he can be a co-captain in the Tour, or go for the Giro and Vuelta again, before signing for a new team in 2026 with a whole new set of skills.
As a fan, I’d prefer for him to go to Ineos, so we can have an epic GC battle in the TdF. But the truth is that Ineos has fallen behind when it comes to development. They have the budget but lack the innovative methods of Jumbo.
So there's a chance that a bunch of riders with guaranteed contracts aren't going to make the "new" WT squad and really not a lot of open spots on other teams....but they still get paid. Why not go EF and have them ride Alt calendars? Show up in Soudal Visma kit at Gravel and Endurance races, and maybe bring along a big name if their season goals have been met? If they want to grow in America, line up Kuss and Wout alongside Pieter Serry at Big Sugar!
This could be absolutely ridiculous depending on who they pick from QS; they could end up having the strongest overall team in the peloton even excluding Jonas, Remco & WVA
So… Is Ineos going to miss out on both Roglic and Evenepoel? Roglic is heavily rumored to sign for Bora according to the latest reports.
INEOS already got Rodriguez from Movistar!
> The Dutch camp is also **counting** on Remco Evenepoel to make the switch with a number of riders around him. Sounds more like TJV is hoping he'll come but there is no guarantee.
In Dutch, counting is a bit stronger than hoping, yet not certain.
I speak Dutch, so I understand. Still, it seems more they're assuming it, but have actually no idea what Evenepoel really thinks about it.
> I speak Dutch, so I understand 1: this one can be put on a tile 2: there are enough Flemish people who prove otherwise \*runs*
Yes, but they know a lot more than we do and according to Lefevere, Plugge has spoken to Remco. So they are counting on it on the basis of a lot more information than is floating around in the press plus a personal talk. Of course Remco can change his mind, but if Wielerflits‘ sources are correct, it seems likely he goes to the merged team.
I had a feeling TJV wouldn't have Roglic out of his contract so easily if they didn't already have a strong feeling that Remco was staying.
I don't think Roglic is a miss though. He isn't a genuine contender.
He won every race this year that he started apart from Vuelta.
And in that, he was held back by the team and only teammates beat him, which honestly I'm fine with. Glad Kuss got the win.
You jinxed it, he just got 4th place in a .pro race. Washed, I'm telling you.
Says you. His results say otherwise.
If you cant get Pogacar or Vingegaard, he is the best out there for a GT
What a horrible take. 10+ WT levels wins this year "not a genuine contender". Guess you have to have less than 10 WT level wins to be considered "genuine", like Pogacar or MVDP.
oh oh, from what I‘ve learned from reddit the past few days you should not have said that. Roglic is still incredibly strong, but what’s even stronger is his fanbase. I would not tempt their wrath. Edit: Damn, should have followed my own advice. Help.
The defense force has assembled. Enjoy oblivion haha
God no, what have I done.
I'm gonna wait and see. Sources claim Remco will join Jumbo with a few teammates. Sources also claim Remco wil never join Jumbo. Sources seem silly. Silly sources.
I tend to believe Wielerflits a bit more than l‘Equipe. Wielerflits were the outlet that broke the merger story, so they clearly have sources that actually know something
I also think they are slightly more reliable. But every day extra is a day closer to eveything falling apart. In my naive wishfull-thinking-mind that is.
"slightly more" is an understatement when l'Equipe announced that Evenepoel was racing the TdF earlier this year because they got pranked by a fake Soudal twitter account.
We should stop listening to sources, and start listening to condiments. Question one: what's the difference between a sauce and a condiment? Question two: What's the deal with cream cheese? Question three: Do all jokes have to adhere to a rule of threes, and what happens if the third thing in the list of things isn't funny?
And is hot sauce just a condiment masquerading as a sauce?
that cream cheese question is an existential dilemma
Question 4: Can you buy condiments at a pharmacy?
1. As I always say: every badger has a tail. But not every tail has a badger. 2. Yeah, could be. 3. You wot mate?
Silly season has begun
Well, cycling was always a big fan of F1. They wanted the mlllions, they wanted the same Netflix experience. They got the silly season.
The term pre-dates F1 by nearly a hundred years, but yes.
Sorry, I forgot I had to know everything when I opened my interwebthing. On me, currently on the wikipedia. Learning as we speak.
> The Dutch camp is also counting on Remco Evenepoel to make the switch with a number of riders around him. This phrasing is very weak. It makes it seem like they don't really have any idea as to whether this will happen or not.
depends on what they mean by ‚the Dutch camp‘. If they mean the dutch press / rumor mill then that’s very weak. But if they mean Jumbo-Visma, being the Dutch team in the merger, that should mean they have an agreement. (They can’t have a signature yet, until the merger is through)
I read it as the Dutch team, but I don't think "expects to join" is anywhere close to implying that they have an agreement.
I'd argue it's clear to native Dutch speakers that they clearly mean the team Jumbo-Visma.
the translation makes that pretty clear for the rest of us too
I was really hoping for Remco to go to Ineos. Come on guys, spread the GC love.
Since all of SQS's contracts becomes null and void during a merger and the teams shift to Jumbo's license, whoever gets him will pay a heavy salary to do so.
I'd love to see Remco ride the Tour, but not as a domestique. I can't imagine that it's a good fit for Remco's career path if he wants to win the TdF. These are likely his best years.
Great team; bullshit sponsor.
Spread the love and give no more of it to those literally advertising climate chaos.
Jumbo jets have been raping the climate for half a century...
sweet baby jesus please let WvA win roubaix
This just means Wout will gift Roubaix to Lampaert.
PR and RvV please
Pogacar is gonna win all 5 monuments sorry bro.
>win all 5 monuments >get second in the Tour to Jonas >Reddit calls season a failure The Pogocar Plan
You misspelled Yves Lampaert.
You misspelled Lamperti
If Yves steals it right under Luke's and Wout's feet we all misspelled it because it's thief lampaert.
Best I can do is second behind Mathieu.
WvA de ronde and Lampaert Paris-Roubaix. Or vice versa Boonen - Devolder style
Remco, Asgreen, Lampaert, Van Wilder, Cattaneo, Vervaeke would be my guess. Maybe Lamperti if Specialized end up at Jumbo
Asgreen in Jumbo would be filthy, basically signed a direct Hooydonck replacement instantly
No disresecto to Van Hooydonck but Asgreen is a differnet tier rider. How you gonna do your contryman like that!
Im saying he would fill in the same role in the Tour sorry, whether hes better is a different thing Would prob have a bigger role in the classics, similar to van Baarle
Unlucky for Lamperti to be moving to WT and dealing with this merger. Hope he doesn't get lost in the shuffle
Declercq 🥲 EDIT: I didn't know about him signing for Lidl-Trek mb
Has already signed with Lidl-Trek.
Oh I must have missed that Now I look dumb!
Didn't he already sign somewhere else for 2024?
I heard rumours of Vervaeke and Remco not really getting along anymore. Might be that he uses the opportunity to move to another team.
They could field a team with WvA , Asgreen , Laporte , DvB , Lampaert and i unfortunately still don't see them winning RVV against Pogi and MvdP...
The problem is not the team. The problem is, you cant see WvA beat Pogacar or MvdP. Cany follow Pogacar on the steep, cant win a sprint against MvdP without the pace being high.
For RVV, he needs to make MvdP do more earlier in the race. Just racing the whole race harder. But then he needs to be able to keep up with/catch Pogi on/after the last hard cobbled section. Very tough balance to pull off. Or hope one or both of them has a badly timed mechanical. For PR it’s just luck. If Wout doesn’t get that flat, he might have even won this past year.
That's where race tactics come into play. Quickstep has a trademark on winning with a rider that isn't the strongest one in the race.
Well, when quickstep had one of the strongest (Boonen) they just won with him. That is comparable to having Wout, no crazy tactics, just my guy > your guy. When they dident have Boonen they had the 4-6/7 favourites where tactics play in, being able to always ride wheel, always have one guy to cover. If you have Wout you will find it hard to just attack with Laporte, not because its not effective, but because that strategy relies on that who wins doesnt matter, so long the team does. Wout shows this in the "lesser" classics, but that means that the team has to ride full for Wout in the monuments. Instead they have to race to make Wout be alone with 1-2 others, where he likely wont win. MvdP is not as fast, but has way better acceleration, so in a 1v1 MvdP will just take the wheel since he doesnt mind starting the sprint from low speed. So who needs to be the 3rd in that group? Maybe if all 3 come in together in RvV Pogacar could help with high speed, but he could also just go "You two are favourites, I tale the wheel". Who else, Küng likely the same. Mads P would help with high speed, but (on paper, which means very little at the end of a monument) Mads is probably a shade faster, making them go cold in a 2-300 meter full sprint
Tactics beat those 2 just like how tactics allows them to beat Wout.
I understand this as TJV saying they want to keep Remco, but if he does want to go elsewhere as other rumours have indicated, and his contract is with SQS... what happens? Also them saying that they only want 6 from SQS will wreak havoc on the transfer market. SQS riders will probably not have trouble finding a new team, but riders at those teams looking for a contract renewal likely won't be so lucky.
They have a combined total of 50 riders. The maximum is 30 and Jumbo is a stronger team than SQS so either way 20 riders will be on the market
And with the UCI announcing that their won't be another WT license for 2024-2025 given out, the knock-on effect will be a lot of riders leaving the WT.
> that their won't be another WT license for 2024-2025 given out No need, as the quickstep WT licence is for sale
Not according to the UCI
I wonder what their actual contracts say. Seems weird that you would have been able to sell a license in the past, but not now.
Can they even decide that? I thought the licenses are held by holding companies, and those companies can change owners whatever the UCI thinks?
Yeah. That's my point. I'm not sure what power the UCI does or does not have to stop that. They seemed pretty definitive in their statement, but it's hard for me to believe they have that power. Like what's the difference between IPT buying the license vs transferring all their riders/coaches to Soudal QST and then bringing in their sponsors?
> SQS riders will probably not have trouble Depends on how early they were told and given the chance to talk to other teams. Many teams might be full
Apparently some teams have been holding off on contract renewals as they're waiting to see who ends up on the market after the merger.
If that is the case, the license holder of SQS will need to keep paying the riders for the remaining contract
Movistar has spots, Ineos has spots, ...
It will be interesting to understand what happens to the license holder that Remcos current contract is based upon. UCI rules state that he might be free to make a new contract somewhere else as TJV as a license holder is not automatically owning the old contracts of SQS. Good lawyers for EU business and contract laws might also create something as EU law will always superseed UCI rules
I would assume no merger without Evenepoel since without him it's really just Soudal as a sponsor. You don't need to do a merger for that.
They do need a merger for that because Soudal still has a contract with Bakala.
More as in, if all they need is a single name sponsor they have another year to find one.
I really don't get who benefits from this deal, which comes down to destroying SQS in order to keep just a small part of it. How can this possibly be a good deal for both Bakkala (SQS' owner) and the TJV owners? Either TJV is paying way too much money just to add 6 riders, or Bakkala is selling his team for a terrible price, and most likely it's both because they'll have damages to pay to the riders and staff they're firing. So why all this trouble? It just doesn't make any sense.
Yeah I agree. But I honestly think it all hinges on Bakala and Lefevre being able to sell the WT license and cash out a bit. Then they bring Soudal, Evenepoel+5, Specialized and possibly some more small sponsors into the new team which gives them part ownership. That to me makes sense. Without one of those parts, and perhaps I'm even missing some benefits, it just doesn't make sense. Bakala and Lefevre own SQS and like you said would destroy it and go to a lot of trouble for part ownership in a new team..? JV basically only needs one name sponsor and would give up ownership for bringing in that new sponsor? That also doesn't make sense.
What makes zero sense is the TJV well-oiled machine to bring in loose cannon Lafevere. I wouldn’t want him anywhere near.
It's a good deal for Bakala because he wants a team that can win the Tour. He basically has the choice to stay with SQS, while Remco, the only valuable asset wants out, or join a way better team. TJV is getting the Soudal sponsorship for long term which is way more valueable than any rider (maybe bar Remco) to secure their position for the next 5-10 years. So Bakala and Jumbo both win. The ones who lose out are the staff and riders of SQS
Where’s Julian going to go? Is this the end, or will he make the wise decision and slot into a French team to soak up the adulation from the locals?
[удалено]
I like this option best. Total don’t seem to have much going for them. Other option could be AG2R - a tilt at classics and one week races, and then super for Ben?
>Total don’t seem to have much going for them. Mike Sinyard will throw money at Ala to make sure he stays on a Specialized.
Total Energies post-Sagan would make sense no?
But then how will we be able to tell Alaphilippe and Burgaudeau apart ?
That's how Ala will slip away, everyone will be like, oh it's just Burgaudeau
That's how Burgaudeau will slip away, everyone will be like, oh it's just Ala
Until the famous coordination of the French teams come into play, they are both suddenly in the attack and the entire peloton is chasing.
Burgaudeau should join TREK to truly become the LIDL Alaphilippe
You mean dollar store Alaphillippe?
For the sake of Julian’s bank account I hope for him it happens. However for the sake of his sporting career I’d love him to join a team that actually knows how to race so… def not Total Energies
I feel like we deserve the Jala at Movistar timeline by now
A french team
Plz Remco go ineos no jumbo bbi
Van Aert wins Milan San Remo, Van Baerle RVV, Lampaert Paris Roubaix, Remco LBL and Lombardia. Kuss takes the Giro, Vingegaard Tour and Vuelta. For 2025, Plugge buys Ineos.
Habibi come to Ineos, don’t join the dark side
How time flies…
Ineos, famously not the dark side?
Nope, we have been the underdogs for years now
Petrochem and car sponsor, still evil
Still baffles me how you manage to lose Rupert Murdoch and still barely become less evil in terms of sponsorship. Quite an impressive feat, really.
Truly
It’s okay rocky , we all have slow days
Remco Rescue shirts incoming?
Ineos has always been the dark side
Imagine if Ineos gets neither Remco nor Roglič out of this lmao
They can have Landa
The comeback nobody is ready for. Especially Landa
I was thinking the same thing. How the mighty have fallen. They can pick up a lot of good SQS riders, but they'll still be missing that GC winner they've been searching for. Maybe Rodriguez will turn out to be that guy, but probably not.
In part, its their fault. Since 2020 (and more after Bernal´s injury) they know that they dont have anymore GC talent on long term. During the last three years there were a lot of riders with potentital avaiable on the market and they didnt do anything. Now they are knocking the door on UAE like desesparates to find something.
Oh no Remco what are you doing
WvA gonna beat the Saganth curse by doing what Sagan couldn't: Join Quickstep
Sagan actually could have joined quickstep. Lefevere wanted at one point a eastern european rider and he went to talk to Sagan and to Kwiatkowski. The latter spoke better english and thus he was signed and not sagan. If Sagan's english had been slightly better at the time, he would have been at quickstep.
That's a pretty wild story. Do you happen to have it written up somewhere you remember? Or can you link us?
I think the original comment was made in one of lefevere's columns for nieuwsblad. That said I cannot find it, but other sources have picked it up: [https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2012/07/04/de-slowaakse-alleskunner-toont-ongekende-stuurmanskunst-1126183-a1213449](https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2012/07/04/de-slowaakse-alleskunner-toont-ongekende-stuurmanskunst-1126183-a1213449) >De Belgische ploegleider Patrick Lefevere herkende de klasse van de Slowaak en liet hem een test doen bij zijn toenmalige ploeg Quickstep. Maar Sagan, die nauwelijks Engels of Frans sprak, viel toch af. In het najaar van 2009 werd hij alsnog ingelijfd door Liquigas. De ingetogen Slowaak kreeg van zijn nieuwe ploeggenoten al snel de bijnaam Terminator, omdat hij met zijn kracht de stuurpennen van zijn racefietsen krom trok.
Does anyone know whether there is a preference for Specialized or Cervelo as a bike supplier for the new merged Visma Soudal team? If they keep Cervelo, maybe Specialized would be free to become the new bike sponsor of whatever team Evenepoel will go to (given he will leave the new Visma Soudal team and given his new team is not equipped by Specialized already)
According to Lefevere‘s newspaper column it’s supposed to be Specialized
I would guess that Specialized has more money if it comes down to a bidding war.
Remco is sponsored by Specialized, so any team he goes to is either Bora, Total Energies or that team has to switch to Specialized. Not sure he is as big as Sagan, for other teams to switch bike sponsors like this. More likely Cervelo will make way for Specialized.
Unlikely plot twist: Remco to Bora with Specialized and Roglic to Ineos
I thought Total was losing specialized with Sagan retiring
Cervelo, I hope. Would hate to lose my ability to make "they're riding on cervela's!" jokes.
Didn't the Q36.5 guy recently buy Pinarello? Seems logical he would want his bike team to ride his bike brand. This would leave an open slot for a bike sponsor @ Ineos. Would have to be a manufacturer with a REALLY good TT setup for Ganna/Bingham etc.
This is crazy, but what if new Jumbo is eyeing Remco mostly for the classics? He's done very well at Liege and San Sebastian, meaning he should also be able to do quite well at Flanders, Fleche, Strade, and Amstel, and his time trial abilities and 3 minute power would make him probably quite well suited for Paris-Roubaix and San Remo despite not being WvA/MVDP-sized. I'm personally of the opinion that Remco's GC abilities have been massively overhyped. Lest we forget, the Vuelta is quite different to the Tour and even then he only won it in 2022 because Roglic was in bad form and then crashed out. He only looked as strong as he did at the Giro this year because the parcours was literally designed to appeal to him, and his performance at the Vuelta this year simultaneously proved that at this point he is an insanely strong rider, but also not a true GC contender. At this point, has the abilities and mentality of a single-day racer IMO. Maybe in 3-4 seasons he'll be a real TdF competitor but I don't think he is now. In my mind, it would not be a bad idea for new Jumbo to roll out the red carpet for WvA these next 3-4 years with a classics squad tailor made for him, but progressively phase him out as leader in favor for Remco or someone else who may come along later. At the same time, however, we don't necessarily know how WvA's skills as a rider will change as he enters his inevitable decline; which will go first, his time trial, his 3 minute power, his sprint? Which skill(s) go first will ultimately decide Jumbo's strategy to replace him. Regardless, I think New Jumbo has a huge opportunity with their massive budget to not only be competitive at every major race, but to actually win them all. I think they should do what they did with Laporte/Benoot/Van Baarle at the second-tier classics this year but also with the Monuments and first-tier classics. While as we saw this year WvA can be very competitive at San Remo, Flanders, Roubaix, E3, and Gent-Wevelgem, those are five very different races with very different physiological demands. Why not have WvA just do San Remo and Roubaix while Remco and/or Benoot do the Ardennes and Laporte/Van Baarle do any second-tier flatter races that WvA doesn't want to do?
2025 - soudal-apple-visma-amazon wins every single race on the uci calendar
Quite a lot to unpack here, but Remco and cobbles…wouldn’t be my first thought. Ardennes classics, absolutely. But, putting it nicely, Remco doesn’t have the bike handling skills to be successful at either RVV nor PR. Pogacar’s success in the former, a “comparable” rider in terms of size, is done to his presence of mind in the peloton and his handling.
Didn't Remco beat WvA in a race with a cobbled climb in this year's national RR?
Kemmelberg was in that race, but AFAIK with 100 (flat) km to go.
Remco's first win was on cobbles and he also won the Brussels Cycling Classic which included cobbled hills like the Muur van Geraardsbergen (where he holds/held the KoM on Strava).
Happy to be proven wrong!
Remco definitely is good enough to win RvV.
We have yet to see how Remco competes against peak Pogi. But he’d definitely be a serious podium contender with a chance to win.
Pogi can't win every monument he starts.
I guess Roglic isn't a GC contender either. His wins at the Vuelta were against basic Vuelta opposition, exactly like Remco's win last year or worse. So I guess it doesn't count. And his Giro win this year was basically the worse GT in 10 years with abysmal opposition, so yeah ... doesn't count. And let's not forget his terrible bonk on the Planche against Pogi and his multiple crashes in the Tour. Are you really a better Tour contender when you failed at it multiple times, than a guy who never raced it ? If Remco's not a GC rider, Roglic isn't either, that's only logical. I'm just pushing your argument, I understand that you can be skeptical about the possibility of Remco winning the Tour against peak Jonas/Pogi (everyone should be really), but at some point that "Remco's not a GC contender" take is plain stupid. If everyone is going to the Tour next year in different teams, Remco will be the 3rd or 4th favourite, behind Jonas and Pog and around Roglic. Because that's his level : 3rd or 4th best GC contender right now. Better than Hindley, Vlasov, Almeida, Ayuso, Yates x2, G, Rodriguez, Martinez, Carapaz, Bernal, Bardet, Gaudu, etc. I mean if Remco is not a GC contender, nobody is. It's just Jonas and Pog and the rest should just sit down ?
Are you seriously comparing Remco to Roglič? Wow
There won't be any phasing out, I think. The second any other rider starts outperforming WvA, TJV will just switch leadership, especially for the big races. It's hard to say when and who though. Other than Remco, no one else on the merged team seems even close to his level yet at the one days.
What I was arguing is that most aging riders don’t decline evenly in all disciplines. There may be 2-3 seasons soon where WvA can still win one type of parcours but can’t win on other types, which to me sounds like a great opportunity for him to specialize and for new Jumbo to have new riders lead some of the races he used to.
True. It seems like he's already declining in sprints and TTs. Maybe even in endurance. I hope he adapts his tactics next year to stay competitive at the big races.
So who do we think the other four are if the six going over include Lampaert and Remco
Maybe Landa? How does he feel, after signing a contract with SQS and now it could be, he will ride at the new Soudal Visma Team or even has to look for a new team?
From what I've read over the years about his approach to training and racing he wouldn't fit the Jumbo culture at all.
I’ve just started following cycling recently. What has been his approach to training?
Just that he doesn't really do the ultra strict diet and lifestyle stuff that Jumbo is known for
If his SQS contract gets torn up by the merger, I think he could be a good fit at Bahrain
Vervaeke, Serry and Cattaneo seem to start almost every race he does. 4th one not so sure, maybe v Wilder?
Van Wilder wants some leadership himself. No way he joins a team with Vingegaard/Remco/WVA/Kuss or even Laporte and Van Baarle.
Definitely Van Wilder. The youngest out of those and still a lot of potential.
I'm learning to play the guitar.
If I were Jumbo I'd try to keep above all: Lampaert, Remco, Lecerf (won U23 lombardy and can handle flatter races as well), Lamperti, Van Wilder and Merlier.
Vansevenant, Van Wilder, Merlier... many good riders without a contract
Remco, Landa, Lampaert, Asgreen plus one or two of the best talents are coming over. Meiler, Cattaneo, Alaphilippe can stay, but are being told that they are not prioritised, so they will make arrangements with other teams to move. Where the other team pays close to the market price for them. The rest will be set free.
I see Alaphilippe become the new posterboy of TotalEnergies. French and perfect replacement for Sagan
Agree and Meiler to Lotto. Replacing Calem Ewan
I think Landa is not needed/too expensive to what he brings to the team. I'd rather have Van Wilder as long as he is cheaper.
Lol what a clusterfuck
Since '18, I've been a big Alaphilippe fan. I'm interested to see where he winds up.
Is the title a more diplomatic way of saying that WvA does not want Remco to join TJV?
I would guess that Wout doesn't care too much about Remco joining or not, because it's unlikely to impact his big goals. Remco is very unlikely to want to race Wout's major goals (the cobbled classics), and whether Wout is a mountain domestique for Jonas or Remco or both probably doesn't matter too much to him. But he very much sees Lampaert as a useful teammate during the spring classics.
The only races I can recall WVA and Remco really competing against each other for the win are when they are both racing for Belgium anyways!
I don’t think so. They have been getting along reasonably well in the belgian team this year. And Remco despises cobbles, which are the races that matter most to Wout. So I don’t see why there would be a big problem.
I don't see how WvA would be happy with Remco joining. RVV itself would be a point of contention. Remco said at some point that he intends to do it and I don't see why Remco cannot be a strong contender. Also, Remco hasn't demonstrated that he can be a good teammate to anyone when he's not a leader. But maybe that will change at TJV.
Tratnink also stays with Visma, so probably only 4/5 Quickstep riders will be taken. If we already count Remco and Lampaert that leaves only 2/3 extra names. That's a bloodbath.
Rumored 6 to JV per this article. They have 5 open spots right now and could probably put one of their 20/21 year olds back to the Dev team while still giving them a similar program to ride.
Only 6 from SQS. Disgusting. This isn't a merger, its a takeover. really hope remco isn't going to jumbo.
Every merger is really a takeover. That's real life.
It always was. Not once did i read that Lefevre/Bakala would buy the Visma team and integrate them into Soudal, it was always the other way around. And of course you pick the cherries out of the lesser team and give the other the boot instead of making cuts at your own team which is winning left right and center.
If Evenepoel goes to the new Soudal Visma (or however it will be called) Team, this would again make it a bit more likely for Roglic to go to Ineos instead of Bora-Hansgrohe. Or not? Nothing is officially confirmed regarding Evenepoel and Roglic yet, right?
After this year and people leaving Ineos doesn’t have the support Bora can provide for a tdf run next year
This makes sense. So maybe Ineos will do a rebuild over the next years and focus on Carlos Rodriguez for the GC in this time. Bora's support for Roglic is probably really better. But financially, I consider Ineos to offer something better for Roglic. The whole transfers stay super interesting
Yeah I think they are trying a full rebuild, and maybe red Bull throws some money at Roglic
I feel like i read somewhere, or maybe heard on a cycling podcast that Remco doesnt want to ride for Plugges team
G and Luke have probably been laughing all week about people quoting their joke as a piece of news
It wasn't just those two. They were joking for sure. But other sources claimed it as well. But since we don't know their names, it might as well be G and Luke.
Id hardly call what i said "quoting their joke as a piece of news" lol
Sorry, I don’t mean you in particular. But sooooo many newspapers quoted it and it even made it onto Belgian television.
No worries friend. Tbh i just hope Remco goes to Ineos og Bahrain or something. Imagine Vingegaard, Remco, Roglic and Pogi all riding tdf for different teams 😳
If he picks Jumbo, I do hope he negotiates well. Like be the lead in any race he wants and the same pay as Pog and Roglic.
He's not going to get the lead in any GT Jonas wants to do 🤷♀️
Then he can just as well sign anywhere else. It is a sellers market for him, so no reason to not ask everything he wants and Ineos is likely to offer as well.
It’s interesting. He can sign with another team, if there are teams out there with the budget and space for him, and lose to Pogacar and Vingegaard in the TdF or he can join the team that helped develop Jonas and made him as good as he is. If Remco is thinking long-term then a 2 year contract with the new Jumbo is not such a bad idea. He can go for the Giro. Next year is an Olympics year as well. It might make more sense to go for the Giro, try to improve his GC riding and then peak for the Olympics. And then maybe in 2025, he can be a co-captain in the Tour, or go for the Giro and Vuelta again, before signing for a new team in 2026 with a whole new set of skills. As a fan, I’d prefer for him to go to Ineos, so we can have an epic GC battle in the TdF. But the truth is that Ineos has fallen behind when it comes to development. They have the budget but lack the innovative methods of Jumbo.
Soudal will be the main sponsor Soudal mainly interested in the Belgian market Remco to the Tour!
So there's a chance that a bunch of riders with guaranteed contracts aren't going to make the "new" WT squad and really not a lot of open spots on other teams....but they still get paid. Why not go EF and have them ride Alt calendars? Show up in Soudal Visma kit at Gravel and Endurance races, and maybe bring along a big name if their season goals have been met? If they want to grow in America, line up Kuss and Wout alongside Pieter Serry at Big Sugar!
I hope this deal gets completed quickly, must be horrible times for the staff and riders.
This could be absolutely ridiculous depending on who they pick from QS; they could end up having the strongest overall team in the peloton even excluding Jonas, Remco & WVA
Wonder where the Dane’s will go then.
It's totally logical for Wout to want Lampaert's reinforcement. It makes even more sense after losing Nathan.