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

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He just isn't the type of talent that should be skipping the u23 category. Why does EF not use their Devo team?
although they are officially connected, it doesn't really feel like there are any close ties between the teams. Only thing they did so far is parking Valgren at the Devo team (who, according to the DS, is only part of it on paper. They never got to see him).
 
I imagine it is too ride the cobbled classics as Jayco has the worst team for this format.

Bora without Politt is also at the bottom there tbh. But outside of Roubaix walscheid isn't too big an asset in those races as well. So any team that take him for 24 should have a real role for him other then cobbles and maybe a suitable calendar if you want him to score a lot of points. Hes is quite good at that - he scored over 350 points in all full season. He was also out with injuries in some of them which makes the total points even more impressive. He could be real asset in the fight for the WT ticket for a team like DSM, ISN or Movistar. Jayco doesn't seem like a great fit there. Bora doesn't need the points but they are normally riding a lot of the Belgian circuit and they are missing suitable riders there. So in the end all speculation but we will know soon.
 
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although they are officially connected, it doesn't really feel like there are any close ties between the teams. Only thing they did so far is parking Valgren at the Devo team (who, according to the DS, is only part of it on paper. They never got to see him).

That has gotta be one of the weirdest "transfers" ever!
Officially, it was to give him more time to recover from his injuries - I assume so he'd be able to ride cat.2 races - but he's just been (guest)riding for the WT team the whole time anyway, and from what I have learned, he'd have been allowed to guest-ride in cat.2 races, even if signed for the WT team.
 
That has gotta be one of the weirdest "transfers" ever!
Officially, it was to give him more time to recover from his injuries - I assume so he'd be able to ride cat.2 races - but he's just been (guest)riding for the WT team the whole time anyway, and from what I have learned, he'd have been allowed to guest-ride in cat.2 races, even if signed for the WT team.

It was to clear a spot on the WT roster. They have 30 riders.
It's basically abusing the system . Like a lot of things, the UCI didn't thought this Devo team think through.
 
It has come to a point certain teams are getting devo teams just so that they can use younger guys to fill up teams. All so they can race more and get more UCI points (another "bad" result of that). It isn't about development anymore.
Reminds me of how Major League Baseball teams now use their minor league teams. It was always the case the minor leaguer producing stellar results might be brought up to the MLB team during the season. But now teams use minor league pitching staffs like they are extra “bullpen” and might bring a minor leaguer up to pitch a game when the regulars are worn out, then they go back to the minors. I’m not sure if that detracts from player development though.
 
It's about making sure nobody else gets their hands on them before you can. The success at such young ages of a number of riders in recent years has led teams to want to secure the next wonderkid as soon as possible because with such a closed shop at the top of the sport and promotion/relegation pressure now, a team can't afford to miss out on the next Pogačar or Evenepoel, and as a result we will probably see a lot of Remmert Wielingas and Kai Reuses in the next few years, supertalents who were mishandled and never got to show what their potential was because they were rushed or they went the wrong path for development.
 
I read Arkea is already at max roster capacity and people speculate Démare might get some of his train coming along next season. So probably some movement out besides Barguil.

Démare scores a lot of points and wins, he probably has a couple years in him still. Arkea needs points. GFDJ vacates a big wage that lost motivation.

Makes sense for everyone but the "with immediate effect" wrinkle of it points to the internal fallout at GFDJ being dramatic.
 
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I read Arkea is already at max roster capacity and people speculate Démare might get some of his train coming along next season. So probably some movement out besides Barguil.

Démare scores a lot of points and wins, he probably has a couple years in him still. Arkea needs points. GFDJ vacates a big wage that lost motivation.

Makes sense for everyone but the "with immediate effect" wrinkle of it points to the internal fallout at GFDJ being dramatic.

Bouet is retiring (Edet & Pichon maybe too). Bouhanni and Hofstetter are rumoured to leave. Russo is going to FDJ. There's also some guys without a contract that probably won't get an extension.

Besides Demare, Konovalovas and Scotson, Venturini, Albanese & Huys are rumoured to have signed. Bagioli was also a rumour, but I doubt that's true as the Trek rumour is definitely louder.
 
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