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

[Stilletto]

Gogl confirmed with Q-Assos for next year per Radsport

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Pieter Weening retires from professional cycling.

No more Winning/Weening memes

 

[RedheadDane]

Very weird. Two 30 year olds with no particularly notable road racing results.

You know what I hate about cycling these days; that 30 is considered old!

 

[tobydawq]

well yeah, but that’s only a guarantee of WT level in countries with so many WT riders that there will always be a number of them present and targeting the nationals. Ireland for example is somewhere between Israel and Denmark in terms of number of high quality pros and three of the last six national RR champs have never had a WT contract...

Obviously, I was being cheeky.

I don’t object to local randoms getting a chance. It’s normal enough that they do. I was just curious about whether we are ever going to hear these guys names at the sharp end of a race. Einhorn aside.

Pun intended?

 

[Ranagazoo]

It's sad to look at the state of several WT teams while Ineos are sweeping up all the top talent as support riders. Money is everything unfortunately but as always I'll be cheering on the underdogs next year.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

You know what I hate about cycling these days; that 30 is considered old!

Yeah, and it's so sad, that Weening is retiring right before his peak years. He should have a chat with Chris Horner.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Obviously, I was being cheeky.



Pun intended?

no I’m feeling excruciatingly literal minded and humourless today

 

[TMP402]

Very weird. Two 30 year olds with no particularly notable road racing results. Christian had two years as a pro with Aquablue when he was just about young enough to still be a guy who might make it and did basically nothing (he won the KoM in the Tour de Suisse). He hasn’t been particularly successful on the British circuit since. Archibald at least is a good TTist and hasn’t had a pro contract before, so maybe they think he can get a couple of wins in small races with TTs and can be a big engine workhorse. Even that’s a bit tenuous though. Usually if a team full of kids brings in a couple of 30 year olds without notable results, you’d at least expect them to be wise old heads who’ve been knocking around the pro peloton for years.

Coffee ride buddies of Yates seems as good a guess as any.

“Sean Yates contacted me, explained what he expected from next year and I immediately agreed to sign. Being able to run some of the most important races in the world is a huge opportunity and I am very grateful to the whole team, with Alberto and Ivan at the helm, for this opportunity.”

John Archibald and Mark Christian join Alberto Contador’s ProTeam

The British pair will join coach Sean Yates at the Spanish second-tier squad

www.cyclingweekly.com

Regarding Archibald - yes, 30, but he's only been riding on the road in any noticeable way since 2017, so in miles-on-the-clock terms, he's not such an old man.

Edit: and to be clear, he didn't even turn "pro" in the sense of being on a conti team until 2019.

 

[Alex47]

Lutsenko will sign in Uae

No, he will ride for Astana in 2021.

 

[Alex47]

No, he will ride for Astana in 2021.

Astana in 2021 :
31 riders
Fuglsang and Gregaard (Denmark)
Vlasov (Russia)
Lutsenko, Pronskiy V., Fedorov, Natarov, Gidich, Gruzdev, Zakharov, Brussenskiy, Stalnov, (KAZ)
Sanchez, Izagirre I., Izagirre G., Fraile, Aranburu, Romo, Rodriguez (SPA)
Battistella, Piccolo, Sobrero, Boaro, Martinelli, Felline (ITA)
Tejada, Contreras (COL)
Houle, Perry (CAN)
Kudus (ÉRIC)
De Bod (AFS)

 

[Stilletto]

Astana in 2021 :
31 riders
Fuglsang and Gregaard (Denmark)
Vlasov (Russia)
Lutsenko, Pronskiy V., Fedorov, Natarov, Gidich, Gruzdev, Zakharov, Brussenskiy, Stalnov, (KAZ)
Sanchez, Izagirre I., Izagirre G., Fraile, Aranburu, Romo, Rodriguez (SPA)
Battistella, Piccolo, Sobrero, Boaro, Martinelli, Felline (ITA)
Tejada, Contreras (COL)
Houle, Perry (CAN)
Kudus (ÉRIC)
De Bod (AFS)

No De Vreese ??

 

[Wyndbrook]

Very weird. Two 30 year olds with no particularly notable road racing results. Christian had two years as a pro with Aquablue when he was just about young enough to still be a guy who might make it and did basically nothing (he won the KoM in the Tour de Suisse). He hasn’t been particularly successful on the British circuit since. Archibald at least is a good TTist and hasn’t had a pro contract before, so maybe they think he can get a couple of wins in small races with TTs and can be a big engine workhorse. Even that’s a bit tenuous though. Usually if a team full of kids brings in a couple of 30 year olds without notable results, you’d at least expect them to be wise old heads who’ve been knocking around the pro peloton for years.

Coffee ride buddies of Yates seems as good a guess as any.

Archibald (Katies brother) is a latecomer is cycling and is still improving.
Only able to TT this year as no racing allowed due to UK restrictions and British teams unable to obtain insurance to race in Europe.

 

[Alex47]

No De Vreese ??

Except surprise no.

 

[Koronin]

Of course you are right on the one hand. Smaller teams cannot offer the same amount of money to domestiques, that's the major problem. If a very good rider goes to a team with no support and no plan b, he usually fails there. But then Quickstep for instance, as far as I know, does not have a really huge budget. I think Movistar does not have the worst budget, yet they did terribly this year - of course this was a very weird year and it's been a season of change for them.
I don't want to deny the heavy impact that the disparity of team budget has, but it's not like there is a direct and inevitable correlation between budget and performance. If you are a smaller team, you can still do good work. And if you offer younger guys a chance for learning experiences and leadership, you have a chance. If you have a relatively small budget and put it all into one or two older star riders, well, I think that's a very risky strategy, although the sponsors may like it at first. But the (new) Sunweb strategy is way better than CCC's or Israel's, I think.

Movistar's budget is basically an average budget. Movistar being the only Spanish WT team does give them a bit of an advantage in signing Spanish riders. Yes they did have a terrible year in 2020, however I suspect most teams that decide to do a basically full rebuild are going to struggle in the first year of that full rebuild.

 

[Anderis]

I've just realised how Total Direct Energie have quietly managed to build one of the most well-rounded PCT teams in recent years for 2021.

Latour as a GC leader with good support: Geniez, Vuillermoz, de la Parte, Cristian Rodriguez.

Plenty of options for sprints, especially for hard, reduced sprints: Hagen, Lawless, Bonifazio, Simon and add Soupe as an experienced lead-out.

Very interesting team for cobbles with Terpstra, Van Gestel, Petit, Turgis and Gaudin.

I would have them in WT over a couple of teams that will actually be there in 2021.

 

[Stilletto]

Clayes sign for Qubeka Assos

 

[Carl0880]

Movistar's budget is basically an average budget. Movistar being the only Spanish WT team does give them a bit of an advantage in signing Spanish riders. Yes they did have a terrible year in 2020, however I suspect most teams that decide to do a basically full rebuild are going to struggle in the first year of that full rebuild.

I image another reason why Quickstep and Movistar have been able to get top riders with medium budgets is also the stability in management. Lefevre and Unzue has been in charge of those teams for 20+ years with a history of winning, plus you rarely hear about a lot of in fighting in the team even with multiple people going after the same objectives.

 

[Anderis]

I image another reason why Quickstep and Movistar have been able to get top riders with medium budgets is also the stability in management. Lefevre and Unzue has been in charge of those teams for 20+ years with a history of winning, plus you rarely hear about a lot of in fighting in the team even with multiple people going after the same objectives.

Quickstep have always had a very healthy budget. Consistently one of the 5 or 6 highest budgets in WT over years.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

John Archibald and Mark Christian join Alberto Contador’s ProTeam

The British pair will join coach Sean Yates at the Spanish second-tier squad

www.cyclingweekly.com

Regarding Archibald - yes, 30, but he's only been riding on the road in any noticeable way since 2017, so in miles-on-the-clock terms, he's not such an old man.

Edit: and to be clear, he didn't even turn "pro" in the sense of being on a conti team until 2019.

Interesting. You see that kind of late start much more often on the women’s side of the sport. Presumably he’s mostly targeting the Olympic track events next season?

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Interesting. You see that kind of late start much more often on the women’s side of the sport. Presumably he’s mostly targeting the Olympic track events next season?

I feel that's unlikely, as he's ridden for Huub Wattbike that have mostly been snubbed by the GB track team, despite him being the 3rd fastest pursuit rider. The only times they've really crossed is Charlie Tanfield who is now part of the GB endurance squad and then Tanfield and Bigham representing the team in a couple of events at the World Track champs a couple of years ago. As Individual Pursuit isn't part of the Olympics, sliding him into some of the World cups or whatever they're now called probably won't allow him to gel with the rest of the team. Especially as GB have a more traditional way of riding the TP than Huub.

 

[Koronin]

I image another reason why Quickstep and Movistar have been able to get top riders with medium budgets is also the stability in management. Lefevre and Unzue has been in charge of those teams for 20+ years with a history of winning, plus you rarely hear about a lot of in fighting in the team even with multiple people going after the same objectives.

That's a very good point about both of those teams. Movistar also has a succession in plan in place when Unzue decides to step down or take a less active role. His son will step up into that role at that point.

 

[RedheadDane]

That's a very good point about both of those teams. Movistar also has a succession in plan in place when Unzue decides to step down or take a less active role. His son will step up into that role at that point.

Awww... I was hoping you were gonna say Valverde would take over...

 

[tobydawq]

no I’m feeling excruciatingly literal minded and humourless today

Don't worry mate. A couple weeks ago I was fired from work and yesterday I was rejected by my dream girl.

I would gladly trade my sparkly CN humor for that.

Or would I really?

 

[Leinster]

You know what I hate about cycling these days; that 30 is considered old!

30 is a lot younger nowadays than it was back when Hinault was retiring on his 32nd birthday. Riders who were competitive to their mid-30s used to be the exception, now I can't remember any top-level rider recently choosing to retire younger than 33/34.

 

[tobydawq]

30 is a lot younger nowadays than it was back when Hinault was retiring on his 32nd birthday. Riders who were competitive to their mid-30s used to be the exception, now I can't remember any top-level rider recently choosing to retire younger than 33/34.

Andy Schleck?

Don't say that his knee injury was impossible to overcome.