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

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May 5, 2010
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I obviously don't know what they've told him, or if they had expected a to have had a bigger budget for 2023, but sure, there's not anything wrong with his current level, and he deserves a WT spot for next year. His age shouldn't be that big of a deal either in a sport, where there's no transfer money to be earned anyway.

Otoh, let's face it; his age - and the fact that he seems to be held together mainly by pure stubborness - means that we probably shouldn't be too shocked if he ends up retiring... I won't like it if that happens, but... yeah...
 
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Oct 15, 2017
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Intermarche is a Belgium team and have invested heavily on support for their biggest star Girmay, who could be a future star in the classics and other one-day races for years.

Pozzovivos results are nice and fair play to him for pushing on last year, when he didnt a have team. Intermarche gave him a spot and he rode really well for them last season, but it is not like he could demand them to offer him higher wages because of it. He will have to ride on the same premise as last year. They will give him a spot, for this amount of pay and he will ride for the best result in the races he wants.

It is nothing personal, but he is not irreplaceable and they have other priorities. Pozzovivo provides great value and is almost like a luxury to have for them, but it stops being great value if they have to pay him more for his services. The sponsor may see it the same way. Results in the classics and the Tour is the most important thing for them.
 
Feb 20, 2012
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You don't offer a top 10 GC rider the minimum wage or slightly more - You are better not to offer a contract.
Should be worth a few hundred k I think but then his value as a stage hunter or smaller race winner is essentially 0 and he's not a great domestique because he's so tiny either.
 
Jun 25, 2015
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Pozzo is facing the same dilemma as a lot of aging riders -- even if you have to pay him, say, only 150,000 euros, that's money that could be spent on developing a young talent. Or does IWC really think a second bottom half of Top 10 Giro rider is something they need? (with Meintjes)...

That said, if Meintjes's 2022 wasn't a flash in the pan and he's ready to move up a step to become a true potential Top 5 GC rider, Pozzovivo could be great mountain domestique.
 
Apr 13, 2021
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Imagine signing a washed up sprinter (without the Quickstep train/effect) instead of Quintana or Pozzovivo.
Unless you need Cav for a Tour wildcard I don't get it...
Sorry mate, you know that Pozzo is one of my favourite riders, but it's a no brainer to take Cavendish instead of him.

Cavendish winning stage 35 on the Tour will give a team so much more publicity and sponsor exposure than anything 40yo Pozzovivo can do, no matter how much of a legend he is. It would be one of the stories of the last 5 years in the sport.

Nairoman is a hot potato in these times unfortunately

And I hope Pozzovivo gets 1 more season at least, injury-free, he was robbed of so much in his long career
 
Jul 27, 2009
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Pozzovivo himself decided not to go stage hunting and chasing the mountains jersey, but rather went for a top 5 placement at the Giro d'Italia again.

It ended up like it does always. He started off surprisingly strong, but then faded away in the final week. Of course due to that crash as well. It's the story of his career.

Eventually even Jan Hirt surpassed him on the general classification.

Pozzo doesn't deserve an better offer by Wanty, since he doesn't learn it anymore. He should have given up on chasing a Giro d'Italia podium after he cracked at Finestre in 2018. He really could've earned a nice stage win this year. Instead he got an anonymous bottom-end top 10.

I'm sorry as I really like him, but it's self-inflicted!
 
Apr 10, 2019
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Pozzovivo himself decided not to go stage hunting and chasing the mountains jersey, but rather went for a top 5 placement at the Giro d'Italia again.

It ended up like it does always. He started off surprisingly strong, but then faded away in the final week. Of course due to that crash as well. It's the story of his career.

Eventually even Jan Hirt surpassed him on the general classification.

Pozzo doesn't deserve an better offer by Wanty, since he doesn't learn it anymore. He should have given up on chasing a Giro d'Italia podium after he cracked at Finestre in 2018. He really could've earned a nice stage win this year. Instead he got an anonymous bottom-end top 10.

I'm sorry as I really like him, but it's self-inflicted!
I don't know if Finestre was him cracking or just his climbing style (always standing and an absurdly front loaded center of gravity) being really inefficient on gravel.

Other than that I sadly have to agree with you.
 
Sep 26, 2020
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Pozzovivo himself decided not to go stage hunting and chasing the mountains jersey, but rather went for a top 5 placement at the Giro d'Italia again.

It ended up like it does always. He started off surprisingly strong, but then faded away in the final week. Of course due to that crash as well. It's the story of his career.

Eventually even Jan Hirt surpassed him on the general classification.

Pozzo doesn't deserve an better offer by Wanty, since he doesn't learn it anymore. He should have given up on chasing a Giro d'Italia podium after he cracked at Finestre in 2018. He really could've earned a nice stage win this year. Instead he got an anonymous bottom-end top 10.

I'm sorry as I really like him, but it's self-inflicted!

Publicity wise it would probably have been a better choice to target the mountains classification, if he had managed to win it, which I don't think he would have, but an 8th place was still worth 220 UCI points, which you couldn't expect to get from a neo-pro. He scored 714 points in total this year, which could almost have been enough to save Lotto from relegation.
 
Oct 15, 2017
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Pozzovivo has to value the opportunity to be on a WT-roster and being able to get a start at the Giro, at this point in his career.

If he was in it for the money, he would/should have already quit a long time ago.
 
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Nov 12, 2010
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Top 10 is important for the fight for points and if Pozzo can provide that he should be getting other offers. The problem is now is too late for any negotiation and the team essentially calls the shots. so if he rejected offers from other teams earlier...
 
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Oct 15, 2017
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Are people actually suggesting that a top 10 GT GC rider should settle for minimum wage?

How many riders do you guys expect ride for that?

If he has the desire to continue to ride as a pro, he aint got much choice.

It is nothing personal and I would say it depends on what team is interested, in this moment of time.

Most teams probably have a hard time justifying paying more than what they have offered him and they are probably not gonna budge on that. They will see at as an act of kindness to give him another year as a pro, even if the case can be made that he has earned it... it does not work like that.
 
Jul 27, 2009
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Did Pozzo leave AG2R on bad terms? Because they never really filled his gap as team leader for the Giro d'Italia. Unless Gall majorly improves in 2023.
 
Apr 10, 2019
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Did Pozzo leave AG2R on bad terms? Because they never really filled his gap as team leader for the Giro d'Italia. Unless Gall majorly improves in 2023.
Yeah, I see Gall more as a Vuelta guy, one for shorter and steeper climbs, not one for the high mountains.
 
Jan 7, 2017
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Koreztky to Bora confirmed; a good move for him.......

And also to Specialized Factory Racing, similar to Colombo riding for different teams on road/MTB.

 
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Nov 16, 2013
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It's not Kielich who's going pro, it's Jason Osborne. Finally, I must add. Well freaking deserved.

A few days after you wrote this, PCS did switch David van der Poel with Kielich on their list of the Alpecin roster. Then a few days later they removed Kielich again, leaving a 29-rider roster. Now they added Osborne as the 30th rider. And on Alpecin's own website it's the same (at least now, I didn't check if they had also added Kielich).
 
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A few days after you wrote this, PCS did switch David van der Poel with Kielich on their list of the Alpecin roster. Then a few days later they removed Kielich again, leaving a 29-rider roster. Now they added Osborne as the 30th rider. And on Alpecin's own website it's the same (at least now, I didn't check if they had also added Kielich).

I think it was a bigger mix-up because originally Kielich was indeed going to join the pro team but with Rickaert being again sidelined at least for the beginning of the season, they deemed it was too early for Kielich to get Rickaert's duties and signed Sinkeldam instead for that purpose. They then kept/promoted Osborne (I'm not sure if he was already planned to join the pro team) and will let Kielich develop another year in the Development team (while doing .1 and .Pro races with the first team) in order to join the WT team in 2024 as part of their lead-out team.
 
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