Jumbo - QuickStep merger

[Rob5091]

What the ***

and you were worried about the Tour route next year?!

Remco in Roglic out - makes sense. Leftovers to Ineos etc. Jumbo get Remco cheap. it seems to me.

 

[FroomeWagon]

I don't want to take credit for anything, but, if it were to happen, I spotted it when pointing out that Plugge said he "wants to work with Remco" in a post Vuelta interview.

This makes so much more sense now.

 

[nedhill]

Could this be more about Soudal realizing that Lefevere will be at the end of his managing career soon and looking to back another manager?

 

[pastronef]

it is a bout Plugge NEEDING a backer, a sponsor asap, cause Jumbo won't be there anymore

 

[RedheadDane]

Why do stuff about teams shutting down - which is what this essentially will be - always get out so late in the season?

 

[solo80k]

Opportunity for a new Saudi team?

Team Saudi - Visma is easier to accomplish.

 

[Salvarani]

I think like this. (Speculating)

Ineos where in talks with Soudal - Quickstep about a potential merger. Ineos would have gotten a new star, Remco, and Remco would have gotten his GC-team. Everyone involved getting some compensation and Lefevre a retirement fund. It explains both teams sort of lack of transfer dealings up until the last few weeks or so.

However, Plugge hasnt for various reasons found a sponsor and poached Soudal. They may have jumped at the opporunity, since they could be the main sponsor there. Maybe they wouldnt have been with Ineos. He steals the prized asset from a rival and gets a rider who could win monuments for them, that they can maybe win GTs with as well.

I think Soudal - Quickstep, as a team, will just foreclose. Most of the riders will go out on the free market. Because Soudal - Visma wont be able to sign more than a couple of the riders. It will probably be just Remco + a couple more. I think that contract is probably what is being negotiated. When that is done... the rest will probably be announced,

It is why Brailsford is now heavily involved in the transfers at Ineos. Because the deal with Soudal - Quickstep fell through. He had to step in.

 

[AmRacer]

So there will be one WT team spot open to grab?

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Why do stuff about teams shutting down - which is what this essentially will be - always get out so late in the season?

Because the involved parts always hope it will get sorted, and try to get it sorted, until it’s too late.

 

[Berniece]

Lampaert is just super overrated and Jumbo has way better riders already.

No clue why you would call Lampaert overrated. The Roubaix team this year for Jumbo was: WVA, Van Baarle, Laporte, Van Hooydonck, Vandijke, Roosen, and Affini. Lampaert is better than 4 of them. Jorgenson will join the team, but that still leaves spots open. Lampaert would definitely ride every big classic with the new team, and he'll ride GT's to help too.

If there's any rider in the world that wouldn't fit in a Jumbo style team it's Alaphilippe

Might be the spark he needs. He was lacklustre the past few years, and I can't imagine him wanting to go to Total Energies and just fade out for money.

Van Wilder will just be a dom in almost every race. They would have plenty of better GC riders than him. He does not want to be a full domestique, he has made that clear. The only reason why he re signed at QS was because he got guarantees about being able to do his own thing in a lot of races. It doesn't matter if you think he's leader material or not, he wants to get his chances.

I think he'll still get his chances. What did he get this year as a solo ride? Deutschland and Pologne. Those are still races he could get carte blanche from the new team, and if he progresses he might get more, but he first needs to progress. He knows this too.

Kooij wasn't even able to ride a GT this year??? Yes he got the guarantee he can ride one, there's just no way they're gonna go with a sprinter in 2 GTs and no they won't take Merlier over Kooij.

Because they found Kooij to be too young for a whole GT, that's why he'll ride the Giro next year. I can definitely see Kooij in the Giro and Merlier in the Vuelta.

It's also all besides the point, most of those riders do not really improve Jumbo's roster at all, they are not necessary. With more money they can get better riders and riders that fit better in the team. That's my point. They need to sponsor, not the riders (apart from Evenepoel sure).

You're acting as if SQS isn't a great team with a lot of great riders. They are ranked 3rd on CQ ranking this year, and without Evenepoel they would still be #7. Just to say, they've got more than enough riders that Jumbo will be interested in. You are acting as if the 29 riders of JV are all better than the riders at SQS. If you would take the top 300 of CQ ranking, and filter them purely on TJV and SOQ you get 15 riders from SOQ and 13 from TJV. Some are already transferred out, but you get my point.

VINGEGAARD RASMUSSEN Jonas
EVENEPOEL Remco
ROGLIC Primoz
VAN AERT Wout
KUSS Sepp
KOOIJ Olav
LAPORTE Christophe
BENOOT Tiesj
MERLIER Tim
VAN WILDER Ilan
SCHMID Mauro
LAMPAERT Yves
ALAPHILIPPE Julian
CAVAGNA Rémi
ASGREEN Kasper
VERNON Ethan
JAKOBSEN Fabio
VALTER Attila
VAN BAARLE Dylan
BAGIOLI Andrea
CATTANEO Mattia
KELDERMAN Wilco
VAN HOOYDONCK Nathan
PEDERSEN Casper Phillip
VAN DIJKE Tim
BALLERINI Davide
VAN TRICHT Stan
BOUWMAN Koen

 

[samhocking]

I think like this. (Speculating)

Ineos where in talks with Soudal - Quickstep about a potential merger. Ineos would have gotten a new star, Remco, and Remco would have gotten his GC-team. Everyone involved getting some compensation and Lefevre a retirement fund. It explains both teams sort of lack of transfer dealings up until the last few weeks or so.

However, Plugge hasnt for various reasons found a sponsor and poached Soudal. They may have jumped at the opporunity, since they could be the main sponsor there. Maybe they wouldnt have been with Ineos. He steals the prized asset from a rival and gets a rider who could win monuments for them, that they can maybe win GTs with as well.

I think Soudal - Quickstep, as a team, will just foreclose. Most of the riders will go out on the free market. Because Soudal - Visma wont be able to sign more than a couple of the riders. It will probably be just Remco + a couple more. I think that contract is probably what is being negotiated. When that is done... the rest will probably be announced,

It is why Brailsford is now heavily involved in the transfers at Ineos. Because the deal with Soudal - Quickstep fell through. He had to step in.

According to the WF podcast and also one that Thomas was on a few days ago, Ineos were looking to buy Quickstep but never got going because it requires Soudal being sponsor after the buyout and so didn't even get past enquiry status. Brailsford has returned because according to Thomas the team has several issues on the performance side, primarily the replacement of Kerrison with the dude now gone to QPR I believe.

 

[Salvarani]

Arn't the teams at World Tour fixed now until the next promotion/demotion cycle?

According to the WF podcast and also one that Thomas was on a few days ago, Ineos were looking to buy Quickstep but never got going because it requires Soudal being sponsor after the buyout and so didn't even get past enquiry status. Brailsford has returned because according to Thomas the team has several issues on the performance side, primarily the replacement of Kerrison with the dude now gone to QPR I believe.

Maybe this Soudal - Visma has been going on for longer than we think then.

What Thomas says might be true but I also wouldnt assume he is in the know of everything. He is just repeating what he has been told at the end of the day.

 

[Earns1985]

Shocked about the news, which I just read.

Just hope for the sport that Remco will not ride in the same team with Jonas next season!!

 

[samhocking]

Maybe this Soudal - Visma has been going on for longer than we think then.

What Thomas says might be true but I also wouldnt assume he is in the know of everything. He is just repeating what he has been told at the end of the day.

Sounded like Plugge, Lefevere and Bakala sat down at LeTour, Ineos probably too but Plugge needing a sponsor and Soudal probably financially based in Luxembourg for tax reasons seems a better fit. I dont think Soudal becoming a British team fits so well.

 

[slow_climber]

So JV struggling to find a sponsor for next year to cover their increasing costs due to having so many top riders. The solution is to merge with other 'super' team resulting in even more highly paid riders and somehow this makes it easier to get a sponsor. Does not make a great deal of sense unless it is funded by Saudi or similar money.

Now cycling finances don't make any sense at the best of times, but if you want Evenpoel it still looks easier to just buy him out rather than ending up with his full team!

 

[RedheadDane]

You guys realise something? It's not one team essentially folding, it's three teams. Both Jumbo and Quickstep each both has a women's team and a devo team as well...

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

You guys realise something? It's not one team essentially folding, it's three teams. Both Jumbo and Quickstep each both has a women's team and a devo team as well...

The Jumbo Dev team has 15 riders on contract for next season, QuickStep has 5 (according to PCS).
How big can a dev team be? I see Alpecin have 21 riders on their Dev team this season.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

You guys realise something? It's not one team essentially folding, it's three teams. Both Jumbo and Quickstep each both has a women's team and a devo team as well...

QS does not have a women's team. Natascha den Ouden owns a team which for the last few season has shared some sponsors with the men's team. That obviously means that she'll most likely need new sponsors in case a merger goes through, but unless she wants to sell, her team won't be part of that deal.

 

[joseph89]

If I'm ASO, this would be worrying for their current business model. This merger would give a team enough power to force a share of worldwide TV Rights.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

So JV struggling to find a sponsor for next year to cover their increasing costs due to having so many top riders. The solution is to merge with other 'super' team resulting in even more highly paid riders and somehow this makes it easier to get a sponsor. Does not make a great deal of sense unless it is funded by Saudi or similar money.

Now cycling finances don't make any sense at the best of times, but if you want Evenpoel it still looks easier to just buy him out rather than ending up with his full team!

Both teams have been known to pay their riders less compared to other teams though, but they probably can't continue doing that if they suddenly get a much bigger budget.

 

[joseph89]

QS does not have a women's team. Natascha den Ouden owns a team which for the last few season has shared some sponsors with the men's team. That obviously means that she'll most likely need new sponsors in case a merger goes through, but unless she wants to sell, her team won't be part of that deal.

Actually Lefevere & den Ouden are joint owners of the team.

 

[shadowrider]

Wielerflits are usually very reliable when it comes to their scoops.

We all knew there were talks going on with Soudal-Quickstep, INEOS and Jumbo. Just talks. So, no surprise at all. If those talks be brought to a successful conclusion concerning Soudal-Quickstep and Jumbo, the merger will only start 2025. Because sponsor Jumbo has a contract till end 2024. There are way to many riders in both teams with a contract in 2024. Impossible to keep them all. So, they should create another team to put all those conctracted riders in. In 2024, no way Roglic would ride again as a superdomestic for Vingegaard. Idem dito for Evenepoel. So, the merged team will have to wait till 2025. Roglic will go to another team. If Evenepoel (with Soudal-Quikstep) has a good result in the Tour next year, and shows potential for winning the Tour later, than he will not stay/enter the merger team. But go probably to INEOS. If Evenepoel shows difficultys to perform three weeks without breakdown, he could stay. Going for small stage races and the hill races. Helping Vingegaard in the Tour.

 

[shadowrider]

We all knew there were talks going on with Soudal-Quickstep, INEOS and Jumbo. Just talks. So, no surprise at all. If those talks be brought to a successful conclusion concerning Soudal-Quickstep and Jumbo, the merger will only start 2025. Because sponsor Jumbo has a contract till end 2024. There are way to many riders in both teams with a contract in 2024. Impossible to keep them all. So, they should create another team to put all those conctracted riders in. In 2024, no way Roglic would ride again as a superdomestic for Vingegaard. Idem dito for Evenepoel. So, the merged team will have to wait till 2025. Roglic will go to another team. If Evenepoel (with Soudal-Quickstep) has a good result in the Tour next year, and shows potential for winning the Tour later, then he will not stay/enter the merger team. But go probably to INEOS. If Evenepoel shows difficulties to perform three weeks without breakdown, he could stay. Going for small stage races and the hill races. Helping Vingegaard in the Tour.

 

[memyselfandI]

You're acting as if SQS isn't a great team with a lot of great riders. They are ranked 3rd on CQ ranking this year, and without Evenepoel they would still be #7. Just to say, they've got more than enough riders that Jumbo will be interested in. You are acting as if the 29 riders of JV are all better than the riders at SQS. If you would take the top 300 of CQ ranking, and filter them purely on TJV and SOQ you get 15 riders from SOQ and 13 from TJV. Some are already transferred out, but you get my point

JV has over 50% more UCI-points than SQS atm. Teams don't care fun factor rankings like CQ or PCS that much tbo.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Actually Lefevere & den Ouden are joint owners of the team.

I don't know the full extent of the partnership, but I assume she'll be the holder of the team's upcoming WWT license and therefore have the final say. But of course it wouldn't really make sense for her to oppose the deal, and it also seems like JV would be happy to get their women's team merged with a project that's more ambitious (and perhaps currently also more harmonious) than their own.