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

[Samamba]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1686851518622810112

View: https://twitter.com/cirogazzetta/status/1686851518622810112


Bennett seems to have found a WT team wanting to pay him after all. A2GR with a sprinter, feels weird.

 

[jaylew]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1686851518622810112

View: https://twitter.com/cirogazzetta/status/1686851518622810112


Bennett seems to have found a WT team wanting to pay him after all. A2GR with a sprinter, feels weird.

Indeed, I can't recall them ever having a true bunch sprinter. At least one who could compete in bunch sprints other than ones in the little French Cup races. Maybe the closest would be Dumoulin back in the day but he wouldn't count. I'm not sure you can say that about any other team in the peloton that's still around.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Indeed, I can't recall them ever having a true bunch sprinter. At least one who could compete in bunch sprints other than ones in the little French Cup races. Maybe the closest would be Dumoulin back in the day but he wouldn't count. I'm not sure you can say that about any other team in the peloton that's still around.

Jean Patrick Nazon and Jan Kirsipuu, legendary 00's sprinters!

 

[jaylew]

Jean Patrick Nazon and Jan Kirsipuu, legendary 00's sprinters!

Good pull. I should have remembered Kirsipuu.

 

[roundabout]

I think this was the last Ag2r GT bunch sprint win

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-res1KLe5w

 

[StryderHells]

I think this was the last Ag2r GT bunch sprint win

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-res1KLe5w

Yauheni Hutarovich won a bunch sprint on stage 1 at the 2014 Tour de Pologne.

 

[StryderHells]

But Ilmaestro only misspells names on purpose and always the riders he disrespects.

And its boring, just like the irrational dislike of WvA.

 

[laarsland]

Yauheni Hutarovich won a bunch sprint on stage 1 at the 2014 Tour de Pologne.

Worst thing was they weren’t able to bring the breakway back on a bog standard flat stage the next day and lost the jersey 🤣

 

[Ricco']

Politt to UAE is a done deal.

Nils Politt set to join UAE Team Emirates - UAE team Emirates

The first UAE World Tour cycling team

www.uaeteamemirates.com

 

[pastronef]

New Pinarello owner Glasenberg has a significant investment in Q365, so possible they go all in with them.

VERY INTERESTING

 

[Peter von]

Politt to UAE is a done deal.

Nils Politt set to join UAE Team Emirates - UAE team Emirates

The first UAE World Tour cycling team

www.uaeteamemirates.com

Awesome news for Pogi and maybe Ayuso if it comes to that.

 

[Ricco']

Jenno Berckmoes, Lionel Taminiaux and Henri Vandenabeele to Lotto Dstny

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1686851518622810112

View: https://twitter.com/cirogazzetta/status/1686851518622810112


Bennett seems to have found a WT team wanting to pay him after all. A2GR with a sprinter, feels weird.

There are one million French sprinter races per year with very weak sprinting fields and AG2R just cedes them to the other French teams. Even the post-injury version of Bennett should be able to win a load of those. And if he recovers his old speed, then they have a guy who won at least one stage in all of his last five GTs. Even last year he won two Vuelta stages. He would be a good pick up for them assuming that he’s on a contract that is heavily weighted towards win bonuses.

 

[Bolder]

There are one million French sprinter races per year with very weak sprinting fields and AG2R just cedes them to the other French teams. Even the post-injury version of Bennett should be able to win a load of those. And if he recovers his old speed, then they have a guy who won at least one stage in all of his last five GTs. Even last year he won two Vuelta stages. He would be a good pick up for them assuming that he’s on a contract that is heavily weighted towards win bonuses.

I'm still not quite sure what went wrong for Bennett this year. But so many sprinters run hot/cold, so next year he could be a beast again. Worth taking a chance on, for sure.

 

[OlavEH]

I'm still not quite sure what went wrong for Bennett this year. But so many sprinters run hot/cold, so next year he could be a beast again. Worth taking a chance on, for sure.

IMO the level of big sprinter names seems pretty weak at the moment. If I were a DS for a big team, the only sprinters I would considered signing if available were Phillipsen, Koolj, De Lie and perhaps Milan (and Pedersen if you consider him as a sprinter). No to Bennett, Groenewegen, Ewan, Jakobsen, Gaviria and more.

 

[magliaroz]

Filippo Baroncini to UAE. How many people are they signing? 😂

 

[rodanafrenteguigs]

Hugo Aznar to Kern Pharma.

Rumours about Frederik Frison set to leave Lotto, that didnt renewed with Sepulveda, Michael Schwarzmann and Rudiger Selig.

 

[rodanafrenteguigs]

Filippo Baroncini to UAE. How many people are they signing? 😂

If rumours are true they still have around 4 or 5 spots left

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

I'm still not quite sure what went wrong for Bennett this year. But so many sprinters run hot/cold, so next year he could be a beast again. Worth taking a chance on, for sure.

in 2021 he was completely dominant in the first half of the season, then picked up an apparently minor injury that turned out to be a big problem. It wiped out the rest of that season and he hasn’t ever seemed to have quite the same top speed since. Whether there is still some lingering physical effect or whether it’s now psychological or about the vagaries of form or just ageing I don’t know. Sprinting is fickle and all of his old rivals at the head of the sprinter field are also currently in form difficulties.

 

[Roku]

Hugo Aznar to Kern Pharma.

Rumours about Frederik Frison set to leave Lotto, that didnt renewed with Sepulveda, Michael Schwarzmann and Rudiger Selig.

Schwarzmann is following Ackermann to Israel.

 

[Faserr]

Schwarzmann is following Ackermann to Israel.

Selig is probably retiering then. Schwarzmann and Zabel as a leadout train. That's better then nearly no support for Ackermann.

 

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

Hugo Aznar to Kern Pharma.

Rumours about Frederik Frison set to leave Lotto, that didnt renewed with Sepulveda, Michael Schwarzmann and Rudiger Selig.

Lotto doesn‘t renew Sepulveda?

That would be extremely unfair… The guy begged for a new contract via Twitter last year, got one at Lotto, and showed a great, constantly good, season - including GC win at Castilla y Leon…

I hope Lotto will think better of it, and renew him… I see that they prefer to sign every second 20-year-old male Belgian that has ever ridden a bike, but Argentinean Sepulveda is a special guy, in a very good way…

 

[tobydawq]

Lotto doesn‘t renew Sepulveda?

That would be extremely unfair… The guy begged for a new contract via Twitter last year, got one at Lotto, and showed a great, constantly good, season - including GC win at Castilla y Leon…

I hope Lotto will think better of it, and renew him… I see that they prefer to sign every second 20-year-old male Belgian that has ever ridden a bike, but Argentinean Sepulveda is a special guy, in a very good way…

Why?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Lotto doesn‘t renew Sepulveda?

That would be extremely unfair… The guy begged for a new contract via Twitter last year, got one at Lotto, and showed a great, constantly good, season - including GC win at Castilla y Leon…

I hope Lotto will think better of it, and renew him… I see that they prefer to sign every second 20-year-old male Belgian that has ever ridden a bike, but Argentinean Sepulveda is a special guy, in a very good way…

Sepúlveda has had a decent season, but it's clear that Lotto doesn't want a lot of 30+ year old riders in the team going forward. Other teams might though, so it isn't over for him yet.

 

[Valv.Piti]

IMO the level of big sprinter names seems pretty weak at the moment. If I were a DS for a big team, the only sprinters I would considered signing if available were Phillipsen, Koolj, De Lie and perhaps Milan (and Pedersen if you consider him as a sprinter). No to Bennett, Groenewegen, Ewan, Jakobsen, Gaviria and more.

I agree, although I'd still rate Jakobsen. But for the money he wants? No thanks.

What's common for all the names you're naming is they are varying from good to great in harder races as well which makes them infinitely more valuable IMO, especially riding WT races which after all are the races you sign them for. That means harder classics, even Flanders and Roubaix, and some of the harder stages in the WT stage races. It also means they can do quite well on their own and you don't need to devote a few guys just to get them through mountain stages. I also means they can join breaks and can be helpful to a team's other ambitions, for example a top-10 or top-5 in Tour de France or similar, and lastly it means they can win some of the easier stage races (Belgium, Denmark etc).

On top of that, the general trend is moving towards fewer pure sprint stages. In 2024, you want your sprinter to not only be fast on the last couple of hundred meters because it reduces his utility and range of stages significantly which is a super positive thing IMO. Long gone are the easy fist 8 days of Tour de France, and may it never come back - the full broadcast of stages is a positive in that sense, because Prudhomme is not blind, deaf and dumb and he knows that pure sprint stages is a killer of these full broadcast. Look no further than this year's Tour - the racing was good to great on literally every single stage that was not a pure sprint which in contrast where less interesting than watching paint dry, especially this year since there was no wind.