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

[Anderis]

Doull, Chaves, and Valgren confirmed to stay at EF + Albanese, Hobbs and Mihkels unoficially confirmed to join the team. That brings the number to 27.

Costa is supposed to have also a contract for next year so it would be 28 and I would guess either Cepeda or Shaw stay at team (or even both of them).

Probably not both of them as Logan Currie was also supposed to have signed with EF.

Logan Currie van Lotto Dstny op weg naar naar EF Education-EasyPost

Lotto heeft zich voor volgend seizoen verzekerd van de diensten van klimmer Reuben Thompson. Hij ziet er zijn landgenoot vertrekken: Logan Currie zoekt volgens bronnen van WielerFlits andere oorden op. De 23-jarige tijdritkampioen van Nieuw-Zeeland is op weg naar EF Education-EasyPost. Currie is...

www.wielerflits.nl

 

[Roku]

Currie finally extended with Lotto. It is official.

 

[Anderis]

Haha, bad timing on my previous post.

 

[RedheadDane]

XC MTB World Champion Alan Hatherly joins Team Jayco AlUla on the road in 2025

After storming to an incredible victory at the Mountain Bike Cross Country World Championships in September, along with being crowned the Overall 2024 Cross Country World Cup winner, Alan Hatherly is hot property and Team Jayco AlUla is thrilled to announce that the South African has signed a...

greenedgecycling.com

 

[Axel Hangleck]

Was rumoured on a few MTB forums a while ago; the only surprise is none of the road journalists who specialise in transfers picked up on it. And the MTB world is next to useless for transfer rumours/ info, so you wouldn't expect them to mention it.

 

[Vesica]

Laurens ten Dam will be the next national coach for the Dutch women.

Wielerbond verrast: Laurens ten Dam nieuwe bondscoach wegwielrensters

Laurens ten Dam (43) is de nieuwe bondscoach van de wegwielrensters. De oud-prof volgt Loes Gunnewijk op. De insteek is dat Ten Dam tot en met de Olympische Spelen van Los Angeles in 2028 doorgaat, maar na het eerste jaar volgt een evaluatie van beide kanten.

www.ad.nl

 

[Roku]

Curious to see if the Hatherly move means Ewan is leaving / retiring. Harper is listed as out of contract but he is indeed contracted for next season.

 

[Leadbelly]

Over in the Czech Republic ATT may have lost their two best riders in Otruba and Dima, but there are serious (for this level) unconfirmed reinforcements on the way.

Still no official confirmation from the team but Banaszek Sr let the cat out of the bag and says Budzinski, Boguslawski and both Alan and Norbert Banaszek have signed for them.

ATT Investments vstupuje do nové sezóny s deseti novými jezdci. Změny se dotkly i sportovních ředitelů, mezi jiným přichází Juraj Sagan | RoadCycling.cz

Úvodním soustředěním v Amenity Resort ve Špindlerově Mlýně odstartoval ATT Investments - mj. z pohledu získaných UCI bodů nejúspěšnější český tým uplynulých dvou let - novou sezónu. Vstupuje do ní s deseti novými závodníky, významné změny se udály i v podpůrném týmu, ať už jde o maséry...

www.roadcycling.cz

The above article also teases us with some extra info.

There'll be an even bigger turnover of riders than thought with 10 (!) leaving with one of them, Schwarzbacher, possibly joining UAE Devo.

The nationalities present will remain the same Czech/Polish/Hungarian/Slovak. The number of U23 riders will increase to six. The final number of riders could be 17 or 18 (if it is 18, the last rider has 72 PCS points).

So the 10 or 11 new riders probably being:

Budzinski
Boguslawski
N Banaszek
A Banaszek
Pekala (diff to see the 72 pointer being anyone else)
Peak
Kukrle
Barta
Dunar
Voltr

+ another U23

 

[Salvarani]

Laurens ten Dam will be the next national coach for the Dutch women.

Wielerbond verrast: Laurens ten Dam nieuwe bondscoach wegwielrensters

Laurens ten Dam (43) is de nieuwe bondscoach van de wegwielrensters. De oud-prof volgt Loes Gunnewijk op. De insteek is dat Ten Dam tot en met de Olympische Spelen van Los Angeles in 2028 doorgaat, maar na het eerste jaar volgt een evaluatie van beide kanten.

www.ad.nl

Last part of his last name actually means "lady" in my native language, so that makes sense.

 

[yaco]

Curious to see if the Hatherly move means Ewan is leaving / retiring. Harper is listed as out of contract but he is indeed contracted for next season.

Hatherley gives Jayco 31 riders. Join the dots.

 

[Leadbelly]

Hasn't the McKenzie transfer been (wisely?) postponed for a year? Hatherley thus makes it 30 riders.

That's not to say of course that Jayco wouldn't mind Ewan moving on....

 

[yaco]

Hasn't the McKenzie transfer been (wisely?) postponed for a year? Hatherley thus makes it 30 riders.

That's not to say of course that Jayco wouldn't mind Ewan moving on....

I am unaware of the Mckenzie transfer being delayed by a year.

 

[Samamba]

Hasn't the McKenzie transfer been (wisely?) postponed for a year? Hatherley thus makes it 30 riders.

That's not to say of course that Jayco wouldn't mind Ewan moving on....

Yes McKenzie is expected to do another devo year, but Ewan leaving is also still in the works.

 

[Anderis]

This isn't really news but I believe there hasn't been a confirmation before:

Madis Mihkels joins EF Education-EasyPost | EF Education-EasyPost

Estonian bolsters team's classics squad

efprocycling.com

 

[Roku]

Will miss Madis a lot. At least he will have plenty of choices at EF and does not go to an overcrowded team. He can make a big result at Roubaix next season.

 

[perico]

Gaviria has resigned with Movistar. I suspect that Nairo is soon to follow, but that’s just my guess.

Fernando Gaviria renueva para 2025 | Movistar Team

Movistar Team apuesta un año más por la continuidad del sprinter colombiano Fernando Gaviria.

movistarteam.com

 

[theyoungest]

Laurens ten Dam will be the next national coach for the Dutch women.

Wielerbond verrast: Laurens ten Dam nieuwe bondscoach wegwielrensters

Laurens ten Dam (43) is de nieuwe bondscoach van de wegwielrensters. De oud-prof volgt Loes Gunnewijk op. De insteek is dat Ten Dam tot en met de Olympische Spelen van Los Angeles in 2028 doorgaat, maar na het eerste jaar volgt een evaluatie van beide kanten.

www.ad.nl

He's on a 100% score so far as national gravel coach (Vos and Van der Poel).

I think in terms of atmosphere Ten Dam is a great choice. He prepared the national gravel team by renting a villa and having a BBQ together. Tactically I don't really know much about his skills, but he can't be any worse than Gunnewijk and I think his main goal will be to create a unit out of all the little islands in the Dutch selection. He's a very laidback guy who you can't possibly hate, so it could work out.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Was rumoured on a few MTB forums a while ago; the only surprise is none of the road journalists who specialise in transfers picked up on it. And the MTB world is next to useless for transfer rumours/ info, so you wouldn't expect them to mention it.

I mean, does it really matter on which team you compete for MTB?
Main thing is the equipment, no?

 

[Coffeeplanter]

As per usual, Eusebio Unzue puts in an absolute masterclass and loses out on just about every talented Spaniard amongst the juniors. Hector Alvarez and Trek and Adria Pericas to UAE have been known for a year, and this article links Marc Zafra to Q36.5, Marco Martin to Red Bull, Marcos Freire to UAE and Roger Pareta to Israel.

Let's see if he can be bothered to go after Benjamin Noval, Javier Cubillas, Enrique Maranchon, Enaut Urkaregi or Jaime Torres next year. My prediction? Nah.

Shocker: it would appear Unzue has already failed with Benjamin Noval jr. Man thought he was sneaky by offering Benjamin Noval sr. a job as DS, so as to get access to his son. Senor, however, saw through this and left his post as DS, about a week into his new role.

The clown show continues.

 

[Bolder]

I mean, does it really matter on which team you compete for MTB?
Main thing is the equipment, no?

From what I understand the smaller teams have very little logistical support so you have to do a lot of your own travel planning/nutrition etc. I don't see a lot of team tactics in the races, of course, but being on a big factory team is an advantage. They hire the best coaches/soigneurs/mechanics as well.

Not sure what kind of impact Hatherley will have at age 28 with very little road experience. I don't think Sam Gaze had any notable results with Alpecin in recent years. (or, at least not that I noticed...) Hatherley is. very, very good but not a transcendent talent like MvdP or Pidcock.

 

[LongtimeLurker]

From what I understand the smaller teams have very little logistical support so you have to do a lot of your own travel planning/nutrition etc. I don't see a lot of team tactics in the races, of course, but being on a big factory team is an advantage. They hire the best coaches/soigneurs/mechanics as well.

Not sure what kind of impact Hatherley will have at age 28 with very little road experience. I don't think Sam Gaze had any notable results with Alpecin in recent years. (or, at least not that I noticed...) Hatherley is. very, very good but not a transcendent talent like MvdP or Pidcock.

Hatherly has no road experience, I dont believe you can count a road race in South Africa over 100km as experience needed for World Tour racing and then trying to navigate all things WT at 28 years old.

 

[AmRacer]

Last part of his last name actually means "lady" in my native language, so that makes sense.

10 Lady...

 

[Brullnux]

News to me at least! Good Bettiol replacement if so but what is it about EF singning cronically incosistent versatile puncy riders. They keep doing this but fail to get the most out of the roster every single year. Albanase is a really nice rider still.

Makes it pretty clear that Arkea are getting relegated - and probably folding then at the end of 2025.

In fairness to Albanese, he's chronically consistent rather than inconsistent. Fewer highs (so far), though.

 

[Salvarani]

In fairness to Albanese, he's chronically consistent rather than inconsistent. Fewer highs (so far), though.

Definition of close but no cigar.

Solid and versatile rider.

 

[Squire]

Definition of close but no cigar.

He somehow has only one win since that crazy 2nd year U23 season in 2016! But a huge amount of top fives and podiums. So yeah, you're very right about this.