Jumbo - QuickStep merger

[Red Rick]

I have one big question that remains.

Does this mean that Landa is finally free?

 

[Salvarani]

It seems that the non-cycling staff at SOQ have no protection, but under a merger perhaps had very little. But what of the SOQ riders? If what is now happening is their team folding under the financial pressure of a main sponsor leaving, then I guess the authority of UCI to insist that all rider contracts are paid off as the condition of a merger no longer applies.

I think this was always the case.

Sponsor leaving, to sponsor another team. It is not really a merger.

Team dissolves. Nobody has any obligations to take on any contracts.

Lefevere sells the WT-license to highest bidder. Retirement fund sorted.

 

[Boehmand]

Apart from Remco and the U23 riders there really is only Merlier, Van Wilder, Vansevenant and Cattaneo who other teams should try to sign.

Wonder who will go for Alaphilippe: Lavenu, Berneaudau or Arkea.

Pretty sure most would sign Asgreen, he's only 28 and a Ronde, E3, Kuurne and TDF stage winner.

 

[Salvarani]

I have one big question that remains.

Does this mean that Landa is finally free?

Yeah, technically, but where does he go now? Teams will low-ball him.

 

[Samamba]

Mediocre teams who really did not do their homework having a party right now. Going to be able to lowball some decent riders because there the only teams with spots left.

I wonder if the UCI is gonna up the max to 31. I remember they did that before when a team disappeared.

 

[Boehmand]

This is very confusing. What's the point of the merger if Jumbo is not taking any rider from Soudal-Quickstep? Is it just Soudal wanting to sponsor a different team, because they're unhappy with the current results?

Pretty sure no Soudal riders are getting released, until Jumbo has signed with the ones they want to keep

Though I'd love to see Asgreen on Ineos, he and Ganna would be an awesome tag team for the spring classics, and Asgreen could take som pressure off Ganna needing to ride every important race for the team.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

I have one big question that remains.

Does this mean that Landa is finally free?

Yes, you can now sign him for free.

 

[hrotha]

How is this even legal lol

 

[theyoungest]

Merger was PR, I think, in this context. I get a hunch some insider told Raymond Kerckhoffs what to write last Sunday with his 'merger' leak on WielerFlits.

It reality it's Soudal ditching Quick-Step, dissolving the team & jumping in bed with Visma & Plugge's people who need a new title sponsor. It's a form of acquisition, with the 'acquiring' done by the general manager of Jumbo Visma who needed a sponsor from a rival team & that sponsor playing ball. Quick-Step's staff are the cliché here, i.e. victims of a rival firm's takeover & then summarily fired/paid off.

It's ugly stuff tbh & I'm curious to see how the media (& people involved) will spin this story.

This merger seems more to have been thought out in the management structure above Plugge or Soudal, i.e. the millionaires (Zdenek Bakala and Robert van der Wallen) who have more or less created these teams and who are now busy creating another one. Plugge and Lefevere are not really as much a factor in this as you would think, money talks and they don't have it. It's not for nothing that Lefevere says Bakala flew in from the US this weekend to arrange things, he's the one that matters.

If the investors behind the teams want it to happen, it will happen. Not much Plugge or Lefevere can do about that.

 

[Salvarani]

How is this even legal lol

If there is no money, to pay the staff or riders. It is not much you can do.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Yes, you can now sign him for free.

Euskaltel it is then. Other teams clearly can't be trusted.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

I hope the company Quick Step do well, and continue to benefit for many years from accrued goodwill, on account of their 25 years sponsorship of the sport (with Mapei for 4 years, then the whole history of this team). Maybe they can still find the resources to back a team at some level.

I hope that the company Soudal discover that not all publicity is good publicity, and that their asphyxiation of one of the major teams of the sport is not quickly forgotten or forgiven by those who might otherwise have been customers.

 

[theyoungest]

I hope the company Quick Step do well, and continue to benefit for many years from accrued goodwill, on account of their 25 years sponsorship of the sport (with Mapei for 4 years, then the whole history of this team).

I hope that the coompany Soudal discover that not all publicity is good publicity, and that their asphyxiation of one of the major teams of the sport is not quickly forgotten or forgiven by those who might otherwise have been customers.

Soudal aren't the instigator. They're just following along. If it turns out Lefevere's team will still be there tomorrow, it's all the same to them.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

There is no merger to follow along with. They were announced as having a multi-year agreement with the team Bakala/Lefevre/QS had, they have walked away from it after a year.

 

[Berniece]

That's just BS, as most licenses aren't owned by sponsors at all (some are owners, most aren't).

Ofcourse there are teams.

And a teams only revenue stream is sponsorship. In this case there was a big chunk coming from Bakala who was also an owner, and he wanted out. Lefevere being 69, he wants out, and this opportunity presented itself.

If a team would actually make money instead of only losing money teams would be bought more easily, and not just disappear like this. It’s not easy to stop, and sell your shares because who would buy something when the team only loses money.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Pat Lefevere when asked for comment on what will happen to all the Quickstep staff after the 'merger'.

 

[pman]

1) I feel bad for the the staff on Quickstep. Hopefully they land on their feet. Hopefully on a more stable, stronger team.

2) It's looking more likely Remco won't come with Soudal which is super interesting. Do we really believe the news stories that Remco dislikes Plugge? Of course, I was just thinking that Remco and Van Aert haven't always seen eye to eye.

3) Imagine a Tour de France where Remco shows up for Ineos, Roglic shows up for Bora, Jonas for Soudal-Visma-Amazon and Pogacar for UAE. Throw in a few ITTs and some medium mountain stages and we have ourselves a bike race.

But I really hope the Quickstep support staff find a home.

 

[Red Rick]

1) I feel bad for the the staff on Quickstep. Hopefully they land on their feet. Hopefully on a more stable, stronger team.

2) It's looking more likely Remco won't come with Soudal which is super interesting. Do we really believe the news stories that Remco dislikes Plugge? Of course, I was just thinking that Remco and Van Aert haven't always seen eye to eye.

3) Imagine a Tour de France where Remco shows up for Ineos, Roglic shows up for Bora, Jonas for Soudal-Visma-Amazon and Pogacar for UAE. Throw in a few ITTs and some medium mountain stages and we have ourselves a bike race.

But I really hope the Quickstep support staff find a home.

I don't see any reason why Evenepoel would have beef with Plugge. He's also the overall manager, he's not the DS, he doesn't make the tactical calls, he doesn't set the training schedules, etcetc.

The only guy on Jumbo he's had beef with is Van Aert. But mostly I think he just doesn't wanna share team leadership on a team.

 

[Extinction]

The usual business trumps the human aspect, but this bodes well for cycling, in that there will be a more equel distribution of talent, In theory. Roglic at Ineos or Bora should be fun to watch

 

[tobydawq]

I have one big question that remains.

Does this mean that Landa is finally free?

CyclistAbi (of all people) already made that joke a page back.

 

[ThisFrenchGuy]

I'm sure Ala' will be picked up by a French team at least, no matter how declining.

 

[Breh]

How is this even legal lol

I believe it isn't.

I might be missing something but most of the staff and riders from SQS have a contract for a couple of years. I'm pretty sure Soudal-Visma has to respect these contracts or buy them out, no?

Riders and staff are not obliged to join the merger but if they want to, I believe Soudal-Visma has to buy them out or honor the contract. That's what would happen in a normal merger I think.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

I believe it isn't.

I might be missing something but most of the staff and riders from SQS have a contract for a couple of years. I'm pretty sure Soudal-Visma has to respect these contracts or buy them out, no?

Riders and staff are not obliged to join the merger but if they want to, I believe Soudal-Visma has to buy them out or honor the contract. That's what would happen in a normal merger I think.

If it were a merger, yes.

But it seems now that the merger talk was a bit of a smoke screen, and that the only asset from SOQ that Plugge's team need, and can secure, is Soudal's sponsorship money.
So either
A) Lefevre/Bakala decided they had had enough of their project, and wrap the team up, leaving Soudal free to transfer their name to another team; or
B) Plugge's team persuaded Soudal that they will get much better brand exposure with them, and they found a way of releasing them from their agreement with Bakala's set-up. Lefevre then decides that another late in the year search for a sponsor is the last thing he needs at 67, so he decides to have a garage sale instead.

Bakala either buys himself a seat on the board at the company behind Jumbo-Visma-Soudal-Amazon, or walks away from the sport: not clear which at this stage.

 

[Red Rick]

CyclistAbi (of all people) already made that joke a page back.

...... damn

 

[roundabout]

SQS WT license should be an asset so even if Bakala/Lefevere want to walk away they would not be giving it up for free.

However the whole letter of dismissal suggestion makes it seem that the QS paying agent is done (as in nobody will be buying it) which is very strange.