Transfers and Rumours 2016 > 2017

[May0maniac]

I expect López to resign with Astana and I don't think that Rosa will leave if Nibali's really on his way out, he's friends with Aru, will be the leader in one week races (and maybe be a protected rider at this years Vuelta) and with Nibali leaving he'll get plenty of chances to ride for himself in hilly one day races. I don't think that Sky can offer him that much freedom, so it would be just for the money.
Rosa even made fun of all the rumours on twitter.
https://twitter.com/diegoro_89/status/736260630445993985
Translation: To make Beppe Conti happy next year I'll ride 3 months for each team.

 

[elfarto]

This Sagan/Bora rumour is my favorite one

 

[liamito]

Miguel Ángel López contract is up at the end of the season, he could go to redeveloped Trek, Bahrain etc?

„Dieser Erfolg hat für mich eine grosse Bedeutung, weil er in einer WorldTour-Rundfahrt zustande kam. Dieser Gesamtsieg gibt mir Selbstvertrauen. Er stellt aber auch eine Motivation dar, weiterhin an mir zu arbeiten“, sagte Lopez, der bei der Siegerehrung ein paar Tränen nicht verhindern konnte. Lopez bedankte sich bei seinem Team Astana, bei dem er einen Vertrag bis 2018 hat, für das Vertrauen, das die Teamverantwortlichen in ihn setzen.
http://www.tourdesuisse.ch/de/news/detail/news/kolumbischer-freudentag-zum-abschluss/

 

[StryderHells]

If your trek you sign Contador for the Tour for the next year or two and you also sign Lopez, Carthy, Yates.
They can be given Tirreno if Berty goes to Paris Nice and they can ride the giro and learn GC and develop so that when Berty hangs up the bike they will be ready to lead the team.

You do realise that they don't have a unrestricted budget, any team that signs Contador will have to tighten the purse a little bit when they come to signing on other riders especially when it comes to big name young talents

 

[MatParker117]

If your trek you sign Contador for the Tour for the next year or two and you also sign Lopez, Carthy, Yates.
They can be given Tirreno if Berty goes to Paris Nice and they can ride the giro and learn GC and develop so that when Berty hangs up the bike they will be ready to lead the team.

You do realise that they don't have a unrestricted budget, any team that signs Contador will have to tighten the purse a little bit when they come to signing on other riders especially when it comes to big name young talents

Trek only has seven riders under contract for next year.

 

[StryderHells]

If your trek you sign Contador for the Tour for the next year or two and you also sign Lopez, Carthy, Yates.
They can be given Tirreno if Berty goes to Paris Nice and they can ride the giro and learn GC and develop so that when Berty hangs up the bike they will be ready to lead the team.

You do realise that they don't have a unrestricted budget, any team that signs Contador will have to tighten the purse a little bit when they come to signing on other riders especially when it comes to big name young talents

Trek only has seven riders under contract for next year.

But they will be re-signing some of the current roster no doubt, my point was that people seem to think teams can just go out and sign big young talents GC wise when the reality is different

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Miguel Ángel López contract is up at the end of the season, he could go to redeveloped Trek, Bahrain etc?

„Dieser Erfolg hat für mich eine grosse Bedeutung, weil er in einer WorldTour-Rundfahrt zustande kam. Dieser Gesamtsieg gibt mir Selbstvertrauen. Er stellt aber auch eine Motivation dar, weiterhin an mir zu arbeiten“, sagte Lopez, der bei der Siegerehrung ein paar Tränen nicht verhindern konnte. Lopez bedankte sich bei seinem Team Astana, bei dem er einen Vertrag bis 2018 hat, für das Vertrauen, das die Teamverantwortlichen in ihn setzen.
http://www.tourdesuisse.ch/de/news/detail/news/kolumbischer-freudentag-zum-abschluss/

Confirmed here:
http://www.biciciclismo.com/es/astana-renueva-a-miguel-angel-lopez-hasta-2018-20-06-2016

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

http://www.radsport-news.com/sport/sportnews_99202.htm

So Bora will apply for a WT slot next year - budget seems to be no problem with a big new sponsor incoming. Sagan and Tony Martin might be additions to the team.

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

http://www.radsport-news.com/sport/sportnews_99202.htm

So Bora will apply for a WT slot next year - budget seems to be no problem with a big new sponsor incoming. Sagan and Tony Martin might be additions to the team.

Frank would be a good signing for them, a German speaking gc rider who's able to fight for a top 10 on the gc at the Tour, it would also take some pressure away from their young gc prospects.

 

[Beobachter]

Re: Re:

http://www.radsport-news.com/sport/sportnews_99202.htm

So Bora will apply for a WT slot next year - budget seems to be no problem with a big new sponsor incoming. Sagan and Tony Martin might be additions to the team.

Frank would be a good signing for them, a German speaking gc rider who's able to fight for a top 10 on the gc at the Tour, it would also take some pressure away from their young gc prospects.

Frank is indeed rumoured to join too!

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Re: Re:

http://www.radsport-news.com/sport/sportnews_99202.htm

So Bora will apply for a WT slot next year - budget seems to be no problem with a big new sponsor incoming. Sagan and Tony Martin might be additions to the team.

Frank would be a good signing for them, a German speaking gc rider who's able to fight for a top 10 on the gc at the Tour, it would also take some pressure away from their young gc prospects.

Mathias Frank or Frank Schleck?

 

[Beobachter]

Re: Re:

http://www.radsport-news.com/sport/sportnews_99202.htm

So Bora will apply for a WT slot next year - budget seems to be no problem with a big new sponsor incoming. Sagan and Tony Martin might be additions to the team.

Frank would be a good signing for them, a German speaking gc rider who's able to fight for a top 10 on the gc at the Tour, it would also take some pressure away from their young gc prospects.

Mathias Frank or Frank Schleck?

Don't know about Mayomaniac, but I was speaking about Mathias Frank. Frank Schleck would be an useless addition to any team right now tbh...

 

[May0maniac]

Re: Re:

http://www.radsport-news.com/sport/sportnews_99202.htm

So Bora will apply for a WT slot next year - budget seems to be no problem with a big new sponsor incoming. Sagan and Tony Martin might be additions to the team.

Frank would be a good signing for them, a German speaking gc rider who's able to fight for a top 10 on the gc at the Tour, it would also take some pressure away from their young gc prospects.

Mathias Frank or Frank Schleck?

Mathias Frank, I don't know if Fränk Schleck speaks German.

 

[pastronef]

Re: Re:

http://www.radsport-news.com/sport/sportnews_99202.htm

So Bora will apply for a WT slot next year - budget seems to be no problem with a big new sponsor incoming. Sagan and Tony Martin might be additions to the team.

Frank would be a good signing for them, a German speaking gc rider who's able to fight for a top 10 on the gc at the Tour, it would also take some pressure away from their young gc prospects.

Mathias Frank or Frank Schleck?

Mathias Frank, I don't know if Fränk Schleck speaks German.

yes he does

 

[elfarto]

Re:

http://www.radsport-news.com/sport/sportnews_99202.htm

So Bora will apply for a WT slot next year - budget seems to be no problem with a big new sponsor incoming. Sagan and Tony Martin might be additions to the team.

Sagan, Bennett, Bauhaus..Probably Specialized coming in..new HTC-esque team in development?
Oh man, how I'd love to see these rumours coming true

 

[May0maniac]

I don't know if Tony Martin would sign with them, he's not the kind of guy who wants to be a team leader and rather conservative. He's not very confident when it comes to trying new things, Boonen had to give him a pep talk before the Tour stage with cobbles. He's also a teamplayer and proud of being a real workhorse, he doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who'd go to another team to be one of their big stars.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

http://www.radsport-news.com/sport/sportnews_99202.htm

So Bora will apply for a WT slot next year - budget seems to be no problem with a big new sponsor incoming. Sagan and Tony Martin might be additions to the team.

Sagan, Bennett, Bauhaus..Probably Specialized coming in..new HTC-esque team in development?
Oh man, how I'd love to see these rumours coming true

Nobody is going to build a HTC style team without having the fastest sprinter around or at least one of the two or three fastest. Sagan is fast, Bennett is too, but neither are going to get that kind of full service sprint team around them. It would be a truly insane use of money. If there's a budget there to sign Sagan and provide him with strong new support riders, the domestiques would be largely classics guys, not the rebirth of the sprint train from hell.

They'd be more likely to build a new Orica than a new HTC.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

I don't know if Tony Martin would sign with them, he's not the kind of guy who wants to be a team leader and rather conservative. He's not very confident when it comes to trying new things, Boonen had to give him a pep talk before the Tour stage with cobbles. He's also a teamplayer and proud of being a real workhorse, he doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who'd go to another team to be one of their big stars.

As always in cycling it probably depends on the money.

Without knowing who the new big sponsor is supposed to be, it's hard to be sure of their priorities. Are they an international brand or are they all about the German market, for instance. If they will be continuing to be placing a strong emphasis on their German (or at least German speaking) identity, then they will want to hire at least one big name German. There aren't many of those around. Particularly if Kittel and Degenkolb aren't available.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Specialized is rumored to be this big new sponsor.

 

[Breh]

Doubt Tony Martin wants to leave or that Lidl will enjoy watching him leave. And Martin is at long last teammates with Kittel. Martin wants Degenkolb to replace Boonen at EQS.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

If it is Specialized, there wouldn't be much obvious reason for them to overpay to lure Martin. It's not as if having a particularly German big name is important to their brand and they would already be shelling out over the odds for Sagan in all likelihood. And if it's just a matter of keeping Bora happy, there is already a squad full of German speaking support riders. They can keep most of them on the cheap.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Two related comments:

1) Ralph Denk is quoted saying that he expects the award of a WT licence to be a formality. I suspect that in fact the UCI will be doing everything it possibly can to assist them with the intent of filling the quota of WT teams and avoiding the embarrassment of not being able to. There are not man other viable possibilities among PCT teams to step up immediately.

2) It's potentially a very good deal for Bora, the sponsor. Denk says that they will still be the lead title sponsor. So they get WT exposure, while the bulk of the extra cost is paid for by someone else.

 

[TMP402]

Re: Re:

If it is Specialized, there wouldn't be much obvious reason for them to overpay to lure Martin. It's not as if having a particularly German big name is important to their brand and they would already be shelling out over the odds for Sagan in all likelihood. And if it's just a matter of keeping Bora happy, there is already a squad full of German speaking support riders. They can keep most of them on the cheap.

There are two if you consider IAM with Brändle, Haussler, Denifl, Elmiger, Hollenstein, Kluge, Wyss and others. Several of them used to be with NetApp, so know the setup.

But I have to say, if there is a big sponsor looking to build a team to appeal to the German market, the idea of choosing Sagan over Degenkolb makes no sense to me at all, unless they were too late, in which case if I was either the sponsor, the team or Degenkolb I would be really disappointed.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Brändle has been speaking with Trek. They hope to improve his TT skills with all the knowledge they gathered up over the years with cancellara.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

If it is Specialized, there wouldn't be much obvious reason for them to overpay to lure Martin. It's not as if having a particularly German big name is important to their brand and they would already be shelling out over the odds for Sagan in all likelihood. And if it's just a matter of keeping Bora happy, there is already a squad full of German speaking support riders. They can keep most of them on the cheap.

There are two if you consider IAM with Brändle, Haussler, Denifl, Elmiger, Hollenstein, Kluge, Wyss and others. Several of them used to be with NetApp, so know the setup.

But I have to say, if there is a big sponsor looking to build a team to appeal to the German market, the idea of choosing Sagan over Degenkolb makes no sense to me at all, unless they were too late, in which case if I was either the sponsor, the team or Degenkolb I would be really disappointed.

Yes, you are right about IAM. It's a good time to be adding some German-speakers to your squad without spending big money.

On the Sagan / Degenkolb part, well presumably the logic would be that Sagan sells bikes everywhere, therefore Specialized want him no matter what else they are trying to achieve in terms of targeted sponsorship. Sponsoring a German team with a load of German riders on it is probably enough of a move towards the German market.