Teams & Riders The Great Big Cycling Transfers, Extensions, and Rumours Thread

[staubsauger]

I don't like this argument, everyone uses it for athletes, as if they can't work after their career. Or just invest what they earn, cause it's plenty for someone like Philipsen.

Eddie Irvine became a successful real estate business man. Jaguar literally paid him like a upcoming world champion when he signed that contract in 1999. Rumor goes Irvine was around the highest paid Ford employees at that time. Which left Mister Ford wonder who the hell that Edward Irvine even is they pay so much money towards.

Irvine was a playboy. But that contract were pure negotiating skills and he instantly realized that he has to take usage of that money income. So he successfully did.

 

[Bolder]

Philipsen is mentioned in the new GCN article. It looks like he wants to stay at Alpecin. Bora and above all UAE offer him a lot of money. It looks like Bora paused the interest and UAE is throwing money at him. Alepecin probably won't offer him the same money, but perhaps he signs for them for less money then UAE offers.
Tour de France would be a problem for him with UAE and Bora.

I think UAE will go after him hard. He fills a huge gap in their roster and only overlaps with Pog at MSR. But it would give them an incredible one-two punch there.

 

[SafeBet]

Money talks. His next contract would be the biggest of his career. And a riders life on a bike is short.

But agree outside the money I don’t think it make any sense with UAE.

More than anything he has ridden for UAE before and he wasn't that special.
Be it for the bikes (a number of sprinters have claimed those Colnago bikes are not made for sprints), the lack of support, the lack of opportunities, the young age, but he looked like another Belgian semi sprinter winning micky mouse races (and not many of them).
The improvement he made after joining Alpecin was huuuuge!

I don't see this happening. It hasn't worked before and most likely it wouldn't work now. He wouldn't ride the Tour, he wouldn't be a protected rider at MSR, he wouldn't even be captain in any cobble race Tadej decides to ride.

 

[Offline]

More than anything he has ridden for UAE before and he wasn't that special.
Be it for the bikes (a number of sprinters have claimed those Colnago bikes are not made for sprints), the lack of support, the lack of opportunities, the young age, but he looked like another Belgian semi sprinter winning micky mouse races (and not many of them).
The improvement he made after joining Alpecin was huuuuge!

I don't see this happening. It hasn't worked before and most likely it wouldn't work now. He wouldn't ride the Tour, he wouldn't be a protected rider at MSR, he wouldn't even be captain in any cobble race Tadej decides to ride.

I don’t disagree with that. As I said I don’t think UAE make sense for him. But never underestimate money.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

I don't like this argument, everyone uses it for athletes, as if they can't work after their career. Or just invest what they earn, cause it's plenty for someone like Philipsen.

There is no guarantee you'll keep on earning good money after your career. You might have a career ending injury that will affect you in your later life aswell. Look at Nelissen, Broeckx, Ardilla, Niels Albert etc.
Or you might not have any higher education because you focused on developing as an athlete, forcing you to do some hard labour.
You're young, someone offers you a lot of money that will set you up for life. You just take it. It's a gamble for sure. But, you know you will not have no financial problems for the rest of your life.
This is something you can more clearly see in sports such as Basketball.
Some players (Oldadipo, Schröder) gamble om improving more and don't sign huge contracts, which ends up biting them in the ass. Other players literally play like their life depends on it untill they sign their first non-rookie deal and slow down afterwards (Deandre (Domin)Ayton).
I would probably go the latter way, having that mental rest of knowing you and your children are set for life, I think that's something a person or parent values very much.

 

[Samamba]

There is no guarantee you'll keep on earning good money after your career. You might have a career ending injury that will affect you in your later life aswell. Look at Nelissen, Broeckx, Ardilla, Niels Albert etc.
Or you might not have any higher education because you focused on developing as an athlete, forcing you to do some hard labour.
You're young, someone offers you a lot of money that will set you up for life. You just take it. It's a gamble for sure. But, you know you will not have no financial problems for the rest of your life.
This is something you can more clearly see in sports such as Basketball.
Some players (Oldadipo, Schröder) gamble om improving more and don't sign huge contracts, which ends up biting them in the ass. Other players literally play like their life depends on it untill they sign their first non-rookie deal and slow down afterwards (Deandre (Domin)Ayton).
I would probably go the latter way, having that mental rest of knowing you and your children are set for life, I think that's something a person or parent values very much.

This would be true if the money at your current team wouldn't possibly set you up for life if you play it smart. Let's not act like Alpecin is offering him 500k or something, he will be earning more than 1.5M a year there too. He isn't choosing between a normal guys pay and millions of dollars. If you wanna be set for life don't waste your money like a moron.

Just look at Van Hooydonck btw, it's so easy to just keep on making money if you're a well known Flemish cyclist. Enough people who just wanna keep throwing money at you.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

This would be true if the money at your current team wouldn't possibly set you up for life if you play it smart. Let's not act like Alpecin is offering him 500k or something, he will be earning more than 1.5M a year there too. He isn't choosing between a normal guys pay and millions of dollars. If you wanna be set for life don't waste your money like a moron.

Just look at Van Hooydonck btw, it's so easy to just keep on making money if you're a well known Flemish cyclist. Enough people who just wanna keep throwing money at you.

Don't you underestimate how much money means?
Not a single middle class person has ever seen so much money, so if you can earn 1.5 at Alpecin or 2 at UAE, that's half a million difference. Even if it comes with less chances, any normal person would be tempted by it.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Superman X Intermarche being rumoured

I'm choosing to believe it even if I have zero knowledge of Colombian media sources and twitter accounts

https://twitter.com/x/status/1772787183830671585

 

[Didinho]

Vollering is leaving SD Worx.

 

[JR1012]

Vollering is leaving SD Worx.

Because Erwin Janssen (Team Manager of SD Worx) assumes that she will leave? Bit of over reaction from SD Worx.
I don't think we can count that as an official press release.

 

[Didinho]

Because Erwin Janssen (Team Manager of SD Worx) assumes that she will leave? Bit of over reaction from SD Worx.
I don't think we can count that as an official press release.

Indeed not official but already a headline like this on Sporza and on the livestream the commentators are also saying it’s a financial question so likely true.

 

[search]

Superman X Intermarche being rumoured

I'm choosing to believe it even if I have zero knowledge of Colombian media sources and twitter accounts

https://twitter.com/x/status/1772787183830671585

currently he is still suspended

https://assets.ctfassets.net/761l7gh5x5an/7cMvL0UKsrJd9We9RH1Imw/edf875ef49fc0b9472a3dd560743c5b7/2024_03_15_Provisional_suspensions_EN.pdf

 

[awavey]

So SD Worx have kind of announced Vollering is leaving the team, i had wondered why she'd been benched lately, Danny first said it was budget they couldn't afford both Lotte and Demi on one team, they then later stated Demi had not taken up the very generous offer they'd given.

All sounds like the simmering tensions at the team are about to break out

 

[awavey]

Because Erwin Janssen (Team Manager of SD Worx) assumes that she will leave? Bit of over reaction from SD Worx.
I don't think we can count that as an official press release.

Their press release preview for DDV was literally headlined Outgoing Demi Vollering returns.

I dont think they were talking about her personality 😉

And their twitter channel posted this

https://twitter.com/x/status/1772997904728231987

View: https://twitter.com/teamsdworx/status/1772997904728231987

 

[Samu Cuenca]

If I had been in charge of SD Worx, I would have kept Vollering and Kopecky and got rid of Wiebes instead. But in order to stay at the top, they'd only need two of them and would still be ok with only one.

 

[Wyndbrook]

I would assume its ultimately down to money, perhaps the Kopecky deal was a lower figure than Vollering wanted.
With Kopecky and Wiebes they will likely remain the top team, but the odds on winning the Tour next year will be significantly diminished.
The way the Comments are worded I guess Vollering may already have a new team,

 

[awavey]

So Demi told Nu.nl "I was a bit surprised by the team's statement but I'm not going to talk about that too much now" so is keeping her focus just on the upcoming races, though obviously it will be a recurring question for her the next week or so.

The rumour mill says UAE and Lidl Trek are leading the chase.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

If I had been in charge of SD Worx, I would have kept Vollering and Kopecky and got rid of Wiebes instead. But in order to stay at the top, they'd only need two of them and would still be ok with only one.

As Kopecky's area of expertise continues to expand into the area where Vollering typically leads, it would always have grown harder for the team to enable the two to co-exist. Co-leaders can work where there is rapport, and indeed Vollering with van der Breggen was an example where this really worked well, but this has certainly not been the case; the two of them seem to do ok with other members of the team but don't seem to coexist with one another well at all, from Strade Bianche to Kopecky going full Gadret mode at the Tour. Too many overlapping goals and as Kopecky continues to turn into an oversized climbing tank à la Geraint Thomas or Wout van Aert, the remaining area where they could be expected to coexist without conflicting aims is eroded to almost nothing.

 

[Roku]

Superman X Intermarche being rumoured

I'm choosing to believe it even if I have zero knowledge of Colombian media sources and twitter accounts

https://twitter.com/x/status/1772787183830671585

It's more likely that Adrien Petit wins RVV tomorrow than MAL joining Wanty.

 

[janraaskalt]

It's more likely that Adrien Petit wins RVV tomorrow than MAL joining Wanty.

However, I expect an announcement somewhere in exactly 2 days.

 

[Red Rick]

Don't you underestimate how much money means?
Not a single middle class person has ever seen so much money, so if you can earn 1.5 at Alpecin or 2 at UAE, that's half a million difference. Even if it comes with less chances, any normal person would be tempted by it.

And if you stay at Alpecin, you probably win more, which means future contracts are probably gonna be worth more and side income from personal sponsors etc is also gonna be worth more.

What is there at UAE? No Tour, no Sanremo, no leadout. If he has achievement bonuses in his Alpecin contract that makes up a lot of the 500k difference.

Basically if Philipsen moves to UAE for a 500k difference with Alpecin that would be ***. And I would encourage it cause I get to stop seeing the dirtiest sprinter of this day win TdF stages.

 

[Ripper]

As Kopecky's area of expertise continues to expand into the area where Vollering typically leads, it would always have grown harder for the team to enable the two to co-exist. Co-leaders can work where there is rapport, and indeed Vollering with van der Breggen was an example where this really worked well, but this has certainly not been the case; the two of them seem to do ok with other members of the team but don't seem to coexist with one another well at all, from Strade Bianche to Kopecky going full Gadret mode at the Tour. Too many overlapping goals and as Kopecky continues to turn into an oversized climbing tank à la Geraint Thomas or Wout van Aert, the remaining area where they could be expected to coexist without conflicting aims is eroded to almost nothing.

Indeed. And it will be very interesting to see them compete against one another

 

[Ripper]

Superman X Intermarche being rumoured

I'm choosing to believe it even if I have zero knowledge of Colombian media sources and twitter accounts

https://twitter.com/x/status/1772787183830671585

More MAL drama

 

[Offline]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1775122548591661419

View: https://twitter.com/dnlbenson/status/1775122548591661419

 

[Netserk]

Lol. Even if he never returns to his former level, someone like Asgreen would be far more valuable for the team than Hirschi.