Quick Step and Omega Pharma to Merge

[luckyboy]

an interesting question (and one already made here) is what will happen with the protour-licence that lefevre held? had it already reached its end or not?

The licenses of both Omega Pharma-Lotto and Quick Step are up at the end of this year. Same for Garmin, Katusha and Saxo Bank.

It seems that Esperanza and BCC will merge, otherwise all the QST riders contracted to Esperanza would be no part of the team.

It'd be sad to see Lotto go down to Pro Continental. There should be one WorldTour space up for grabs now that two are going to become one. That'll be for GreenEdge then

 

[cobblehead]

more information is emerging about the gilbert-transfersaga...

according to sporza the option omega-pharma has is a right of first refusal which means that if they can match the top-offer made to him, gilbert will automatically be signed to omega-pharma-quickstep and will have to buy out his contract if he wants to go to BMC...

 

[cobblehead]

interesting article in the belgian newspaper Hetnieuwsblad today, they have shed some light as to how it's possible that all the riders that are on the present quickstep-roster will automatically be transferred to the new omega-pharma-quickstep-team while this team is racing under the licence owned by Omega-Pharma and the belgian cycling company...

apparantly all the quickstep-riders are not signed by esperanza cycling (the licence-holder for the current quickstep-team) but are signed by a different company named Decolef, a company owned by patrick lefevre, zdenek bakala en Bessel kok which placed them at the current quickstep-team and will now place them with the belgian cycling company..

or so I understood the article

 

[nobilis]

The licenses of both Omega Pharma-Lotto and Quick Step are up at the end of this year. Same for Garmin, Katusha and Saxo Bank.

It seems that Esperanza and BCC will merge, otherwise all the QST riders contracted to Esperanza would be no part of the team.

It'd be sad to see Lotto go down to Pro Continental. There should be one WorldTour space up for grabs now that two are going to become one. That'll be for GreenEdge then

What are exactly the rules now regarding proteam licences? I thought they were now renewed on a yearly basis, based on their current riders or future signings UCI World Tour points. So I guess maybe some teams (e.g Vacansoleil if they don't merge with Highroad) would be demoted and maybe other ProConti like Europcar or maybe Skil would become ProTeam based on their scores.

 

[cobblehead]

also keeping in mind the abovementioned things about quickstep and if the belgian cycling company is correct about their contracts the following riders are all signed to the new omega-pharma-quickstep-team

from omega-pharma-lotto:
1. Jan Bakelants (?radioshack?)
2. David Boucher
3. Bart De Clercq
4. Jens Debusschere
5. Gert Dockx
6. Philippe Gilbert (?BMC?)
7. André Greipel
8. Adam Hansen
9. Klaas Lodewyck
10. Maarten Neyens
11. Oscar Pujol
12. Vicente Reynes
13. Marcel Sieberg
14. Jurgen Vandewalle
15. Jurgen Van den Broeck (?lotto?)
16. Sven Vandousselaere
17. Jelle Vanendert (?lotto?)
18. Jussie Veikkanen
19. Frederik Willems
20. jurgen roelandts (at the end of his contract, possibly FDJ but with a right a first refusal for omega-pharma)

from quickstep:
21. Tom Boonen
22. Sylvain Chavanel
23. Kevin De Weert
24. Dries Devenyns
25. Frederique Robert
26. Zdenek Stybar
27. Jan Tratnik
28. Matteo Trentin
29. Stijn Vandenbergh
30. Kristof Vandewalle
31. Guillaume Van Keirsbulck
32. Martin Velits
33. Peter Velits
34. Julien Vermote

not a bad team at all, all the underlined riders has openly said to be exploring other options though...

 

[JA.Tri]

also keeping in mind the abovementioned things about quickstep and if the belgian cycling company is correct about their contracts the following riders are all signed to the new omega-pharma-quickstep-team

from omega-pharma-lotto:
1. Jan Bakelants (?radioshack?)
2. David Boucher
3. Bart De Clercq
4. Jens Debusschere
5. Gert Dockx
6. Philippe Gilbert (?BMC?)
7. André Greipel
8. Adam Hansen
9. Klaas Lodewyck
10. Maarten Neyens
11. Oscar Pujol
12. Vicente Reynes
13. Marcel Sieberg
14. Jurgen Vandewalle
15. Jurgen Van den Broeck (?lotto?)
16. Sven Vandousselaere
17. Jelle Vanendert (?lotto?)
18. Jussie Veikkanen
19. Frederik Willems
20. jurgen roelandts (at the end of his contract, possibly FDJ but with a right a first refusal for omega-pharma)

from quickstep:
21. Tom Boonen
22. Sylvain Chavanel
23. Kevin De Weert
24. Dries Devenyns
25. Frederique Robert
26. Zdenek Stybar
27. Jan Tratnik
28. Matteo Trentin
29. Stijn Vandenbergh
30. Kristof Vandewalle
31. Guillaume Van Keirsbulck
32. Martin Velits
33. Peter Velits
34. Julien Vermote

not a bad team at all, all the underlined riders has openly said to be exploring other options though...

I am very confusssssed!! I thought/recall seeing article very recently that had:

15. Jurgen Van den Broeck[/U] (?lotto?)

17. Jelle Vanendert[/U] (?lotto?)


contracted to Lotto!

And I could not understand how most of the OPL team (via BCC) were contracted to OP and the new OPQS team BUT JVdB and JV were not. Doesn't make sense to this pleb. If so inclined and tolerant would some kind soul please explain.

Ta in anticipation (sort of hope I am not alone in this!).

 

[Sophistic]

What are exactly the rules now regarding proteam licences? I thought they were now renewed on a yearly basis, based on their current riders or future signings UCI World Tour points. So I guess maybe some teams (e.g Vacansoleil if they don't merge with Highroad) would be demoted and maybe other ProConti like Europcar or maybe Skil would become ProTeam based on their scores.

Right, if you are in the top 15 (based on the last 2 years of the best 15 riders on each team) you are safe, the other 3 spots will be given selectively to other top 20 teams. Vacansoleil will most likely fall out the top 15.

 

[janraaskalt]

Already 36 votes for Quick Step in the poll, of which at least 35 votes were cast after the merger news was released. How pathetic.

 

[just some guy]

as I've mentioned in the transfer rumours topic, today's newspapers here in Flanders are saying that, since omega-pharma is not stopping as main sponsor but is going on in a new team, that all existing contracts with omega-pharma-lotto will automatically become contracts with omega-pharma-quickstep (or so the people at omega-pharma claim)

this would mean that gilbert, vandenbroeck and greipel (among others) are bound to the new team by contract and that they will either have to ride for the new team or buy their way out of their contract (and for gilbert the price is rumoured to be 1.5 million euros)

if the articles in the belgian press today are correct the belgian cycling company (BCC) are the licenceholder, the man behind BCC is Marc Coucke and who happens to be the big boss of team sponsor omega pharma? Marc Coucke..

I wouldn't just assume that their point about gilberts contract isn't valid...

whether it's a smart thing to play the game this way, that's another thing...

@aussiegodess: riders like gilbert, vandenbroeck and others assumed that their contract would be terminated when the team Omega-pharma-lotto disbanded and apparantly this would automatically have been the case if BCC had stopped as licenceholder and main team organisation behind a new team, however since BCC is apparantly becoming both licenceholder and main team organizer for the omega-pharma-quickstep-team it would appear that the abovementioned clause does not apply and all the present contracts stick.

This would mean that all current omega-pharma-lotto-riders currently still under contract will become omega-pharma-quickstep-riders unless they buy out their contract.

lefevre must be laughing his *ss off, without too big an effort he has a good chance of getting gilbert, vandenbroeck, greipel and a number of other nice riders to reinforce his team, seeing as how almost every decent rider at quickstep has signed an extension this all has the making of a strong team (with or without gilbert)

in the meantime Gilberts manager has responded to the claims by omega-pharma.

According to him the existing contracts only continued to exist if omega-pharma (BCC) continued as one team with lotto, now that they are aligning themselves with quickstep, he claims that all contracts are null.

He also said that as of now gilbert has four offers on the table: Astana, Lotto (the new lotto-team), BMC and quickstep (about which it is unclear who made the offer, quickstep under their own licence or omega-pharma-quickstep under their new form)

what a mess...

Maybe I'm reading this wrong but if you've got two teams with two separate licence holders and then these two merge then surely one of these licences and presumably the riders contracts with that licence are now void?

So if the new OPQS team is operating on the BCC licence then what's happening with the QS licence and are their riders free from contract?_?

The first half of your post is inconsistent with this part of the end of it. If OP and QS (the companies) have united behind BCC, then Lefevre's Esperanza cycling team seem to have been left high and dry. BCC already has a general manager in the person of Geert Coeman, and a full team.

If OP-QS is to be based around BCC, it would appear that it is far more the case that QS are moving their allegiance than that Omega Pharma Co are. So rather than Lotto saying cheerio to Omega, and that company looking for another team to use as sandwich boards, it would seem that Lefevre/Esperanza/Boonen-Chananel-DeWeert have been left without sponsors (the secondary sponsor, Innergetic, having also moved), and Lotto have been told, "No, its you who are not needed any more."

So will Lotto take up with the outfit that QS and Innergetic have left behind?

In an interview with sporza Lefevre said that he was happy with the merger of his outfit with omega-pharma and with the renewal of the sponsorcontract with quickstep.

Also the big chiefs behind esperanza cycling team have made a statement in which they said that they were happy with the merger.

the way I see it the new team omega-pharma-quickstep will race under the licence held by Belgian Cycling company (omega-pharma) but will be reinforced by the riders signed with lefevre and with the main sponsor of lefevres quickstep-innergetic-team.

I also don't see a man like lefevre doing something like that unless a nice function in this new team was promised to him.

an interesting question (and one already made here) is what will happen with the protour-licence that lefevre held? had it already reached its end or not?

more information is emerging about the gilbert-transfersaga...

according to sporza the option omega-pharma has is a right of first refusal which means that if they can match the top-offer made to him, gilbert will automatically be signed to omega-pharma-quickstep and will have to buy out his contract if he wants to go to BMC...

interesting article in the belgian newspaper Hetnieuwsblad today, they have shed some light as to how it's possible that all the riders that are on the present quickstep-roster will automatically be transferred to the new omega-pharma-quickstep-team while this team is racing under the licence owned by Omega-Pharma and the belgian cycling company...

apparantly all the quickstep-riders are not signed by esperanza cycling (the licence-holder for the current quickstep-team) but are signed by a different company named Decolef, a company owned by patrick lefevre, zdenek bakala en Bessel kok which placed them at the current quickstep-team and will now place them with the belgian cycling company..

or so I understood the article

I am very confusssssed!! I thought/recall seeing article very recently that had:

15. Jurgen Van den Broeck[/U] (?lotto?)

17. Jelle Vanendert[/U] (?lotto?)


contracted to Lotto!

And I could not understand how most of the OPL team (via BCC) were contracted to OP and the new OPQS team BUT JVdB and JV were not. Doesn't make sense to this pleb. If so inclined and tolerant would some kind soul please explain.

Ta in anticipation (sort of hope I am not alone in this!).

It is a mess.

Timeline as I see it.

Lotto says to Omega we want to go different direction.

( I read somewhere which I can not find that Lotto owned the licence I am wrong apparently )

Lotto wants a new Belgium based team with cosponsor . Omega have 4.5 million Euro and want to find a team to join as head sponsor.

Lotto with Mark Sargent sign VDB2, Jelle want Gripel and other types who fit with the new outlook - no licence no cosponsor

BCC which is the licence holder ( I checked UCI yesterday) Claim riders are still contracted with them.

Gilbert who contract ends at the end of the season has a 1 year extension option right which BCC claim they have used that Option.

BCC and Decolef come to an agreement to form a super team.

BCC will be the licence holder so all contracts from the old OPL are still legally binding as are options for next season re Roelandts and Gilbert.

Old Quickstep riders have contract with Decolef which means they follow the head company in what ever form it takes.

I think thats it.

Does that Help ?

 

[JA.Tri]

If all those riders are contracted then the "book" is "overbooked" and there will be riders to be sacked??? As such would this situation not strengthen the arguments of the dissatisfied riders. Thereby enhance their ability to seek other options unencumbered by current options/contracts??

 

[just some guy]

If all those riders are contracted then the "book" is "overbooked" and there will be riders to be sacked??? As such would this situation not strengthen the arguments of the dissatisfied riders. Thereby enhance their ability to seek other options unencumbered by current options/contracts??

But if Your Gilbert or VDB2 you the rider the team wants you so others lose their places 1st.

Say we take Gilbert - We assume that he doesn´t want to ride for a BCC team and wants to ride for say BMC.

BCC have declared that will exercise the option on the best one day racer in the world at the moment, doesn´t matter if Gilbert is dissatisfied or more. So by the letter of the contract Gilbert is a OPQ - Omegapharma Quickstep rider, the team will need to cut riders so someone else losers their ride at OPQ for next year as Gilbert is of much more value than probably the entire Peloton.

But Gilbert will have a buy out clause rumored to be around 1.5 million Euro so he can buy out his contract, but 1.5 million is a fair bit of splash, but it can be done.

But But ask any lawyer and they will tell you contracts are not worth the paper they are written on.

But But But - what Gilbert manager is saying is that the Contract Gilbert signed was with OPL team and Not OPQ even though the contract is with BCC the company behind OPL and so is not a real contract as of the end of the season .

I think..............

 

[nobilis]

from quickstep:
21. Tom Boonen
22. Sylvain Chavanel
23. Kevin De Weert
24. Dries Devenyns
25. Frederique Robert
26. Zdenek Stybar
27. Jan Tratnik
28. Matteo Trentin
29. Stijn Vandenbergh
30. Kristof Vandewalle
31. Guillaume Van Keirsbulck
32. Martin Velits
33. Peter Velits
34. Julien Vermote

Is Jerome Pineau leaving?

 

[NickBVK]

I hope this gets sorted quickly , even though they're not the best managers out there ( ) I'd like to see the UCI provide someone to oversee the whole merger. Granted they will probably mess it up even more but there needs to be a 3rd party to facilitate the merger in my opinion.

Also I reckon the rejects of the merge of Quick Step and Omega Pharma will form the basis for Lotto's new team

 

[greenedge]

No he's not.

I think Greipel and Boonen will form a good tandem for classics. Ciolek and Steegmans will lead them out and be quite capable.

I wonder whether any teams will even try to buy JVDB out. I think he might even go to RS ( links with Bruyneel who mentored him and is also Belgian ). I think Lotto will not get a WT licence unless if there is an anomaly in the contract.

 

[Praetor]

But But But - what Gilbert manager is saying is that the Contract Gilbert signed was with OPL team and Not OPQ even though the contract is with BCC the company behind OPL and so is not a real contract as of the end of the season .

I think you need to look at it in another way. Omega Pharma is just getting another co-sponsor named Quickstep, who's bringing along some riders.

I might look the other way, but I think, legally, that is what is happening and it would be ridiculous for all contracts to become void just because there is a new co-sponsor.

 

[wirral]

Already 36 votes for Quick Step in the poll, of which at least 35 votes were cast after the merger news was released. How pathetic.

I did that. I viewed it as a kind of quiz.

 

[greenedge]

This is going to be the new super team that shall land Boonen his Tour of Flanders and P-R wins.

 

[aahmadhu]

speaking of which, who's gonna be in charge of the team anyway? in most reports regarding the merger, lefevre seems to be the one who did all the talking and comments.

 

[El Pistolero]

This is going to be the new super team that shall land Boonen his Tour of Flanders and P-R wins.

Gilbert will win the Ronde next year

Chavanel will be second and Boonen third out of a small chasing group behind. And yes, they'll all be team mates *

If all the good riders from OPL go to QS we'll have Mapei all over again(Gilbert, Vanendert, VDB2)

The rest are replaceable although Jurgen Roelandts would be a nice sign as well.

* Cancellara will be crying in a corner after seeing the QS line up at the Ronde

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Gilbert will win the Ronde next year

Chavanel will be second and Boonen third out of a small chasing group behind. And yes, they'll all be team mates *

If all the good riders from OPL go to QS we'll have Mapei all over again(Gilbert, Vanendert, VDB2)

The rest are replaceable although Jurgen Roelandts would be a nice sign as well.

* Cancellara will be crying in a corner after seeing the QS line up at the Ronde

God yes, Mapei 2.0 would be great another PR 1-2-3 please