Transfers and Rumours 2016 > 2017

[Nirvana]

Anyone knows if Trentin has a contract for 2017 with Etixx?
I remember that during the Tour of Wallonie Wladimir Belli (one of the Eurosport italian commentators) said multiple times the he have signed but according to PCS he doesn't have a contract for next season.

 

[dirkprovin]

Chris Meier retiring at the end of this season to pursue his business interests
http://www.greenedgecycling.com/news/christian-meier-announces-his-retirement.phps

He did have a OBE contract for 2017 so this may free up some space. Currently they have 23 riders contracted for next year with the following currently "undeclared":

Impey, Howson, Durbridge, Cheung (HKG), Schultz (stagiare).

Of these, Impey would seem a near certain retention given his growing utlility as a flexible super-domestique plus his capacity to bring in some results. Having said that, he may also have fielded some outside offers but he has been someone who's been completely "at home" & thrived at this team so it would need to be "an offer you can't refuse" if he's to leave.

Howson, curiously, only signed a one year extension last year but rode brilliantly at the Giro and has potential to develop into a very good mountain dom. Would have to think the team would want to keep him but what is his thinking ?

Durbridge ?? Am not sure of his future, although with the Meier retirement this does free up the space at OBE. The cobbles look to be where his optimal performance lies but he's currently up against increasing competition for precedence. Hayman MAY move on after 2017 but he'll still be up against Keukeleire (a faster finisher) for precedence as well as the developing Cort & Edmondson. He, like Matthews, MAY seek a new home.

Cheung .... not seeing this being extended unless there's some $$$$ tied to this deal.

Schultz won a stage at recent Avenir which could help his chances. A couple of years older than others on the AUS Avenir squad; will be interested to see whether some of them will make an early jump or wait another year.

 

[Lexman]

Re: Re:

Lets break the silence in here

Robert Kiserlovski ex Tinkoff to Katusha
Van Keirsbulck ex Etixx to Wanty *confirmed*

Etixx have lost quite a lot of cobbles guys: Martin, Maes, Vandenbergh, Van Keirsbulck and Wisniowski. They will still name a very strong squad of course but they don't have quite the same depth now.

they got Declercq from Topsport who has a similar profile to Van Keirsbulck and got Devenyns and Gilbert...

Lampaert is stronger, Vermote is still there as does Keisse; Stybar, Boonen, Terpstra

so that makes 9 riders...

 

[ciranda]

Rasmus Guldhammer rumoured to Astana.

That was a while ago, no news for a while so I guess not finalized. Hope it can work out or he can find another team. It would be terrible if he can't find a good team after he finally had a good season last year.

 

[RedheadDane]

Would be quite a Danish gang on Astana if that works out. Who - just a few years ago - would have predicted that Astana would potentially be the WT team with most Danish riders?

 

[yaco]

Re:

Chris Meier retiring at the end of this season to pursue his business interests
http://www.greenedgecycling.com/news/christian-meier-announces-his-retirement.phps

He did have a OBE contract for 2017 so this may free up some space. Currently they have 23 riders contracted for next year with the following currently "undeclared":

Impey, Howson, Durbridge, Cheung (HKG), Schultz (stagiare).

Of these, Impey would seem a near certain retention given his growing utlility as a flexible super-domestique plus his capacity to bring in some results. Having said that, he may also have fielded some outside offers but he has been someone who's been completely "at home" & thrived at this team so it would need to be "an offer you can't refuse" if he's to leave.

Howson, curiously, only signed a one year extension last year but rode brilliantly at the Giro and has potential to develop into a very good mountain dom. Would have to think the team would want to keep him but what is his thinking ?

Durbridge ?? Am not sure of his future, although with the Meier retirement this does free up the space at OBE. The cobbles look to be where his optimal performance lies but he's currently up against increasing competition for precedence. Hayman MAY move on after 2017 but he'll still be up against Keukeleire (a faster finisher) for precedence as well as the developing Cort & Edmondson. He, like Matthews, MAY seek a new home.

Cheung .... not seeing this being extended unless there's some $$$$ tied to this deal.

Schultz won a stage at recent Avenir which could help his chances. A couple of years older than others on the AUS Avenir squad; will be interested to see whether some of them will make an early jump or wait another year.

- Cheung is contracted for 2017 but has not ridden a race for nearly 2 months.
- Impey is definitely needed.
- Howson is a required rider.
- Durbridge - believe there is a bit of interest and OBE can see a big future in cobbles

My understanding is one of the Aussie riders from L'Avenir will join OBE in 2018. And possibly one more climber type to join in 2017.

Expect more movement next year - Hayman/Gerrans/Tuft and Albasini are closer to 40 than 30 - Expect at least 2 or 3 not to be around in 2018 - Also Docker has done no GT's in 2016 which is a good way to shorten a rider's career - Read Meier.

OBE have no obvious replacement for Matthews who leaves a big hole.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Chun Kai Feng to Bahrein-Merida for two years.

 

[JRanton]

Re:

Chris Meier retiring at the end of this season to pursue his business interests
http://www.greenedgecycling.com/news/christian-meier-announces-his-retirement.phps

He did have a OBE contract for 2017 so this may free up some space. Currently they have 23 riders contracted for next year with the following currently "undeclared":

Impey, Howson, Durbridge, Cheung (HKG), Schultz (stagiare).

Of these, Impey would seem a near certain retention given his growing utlility as a flexible super-domestique plus his capacity to bring in some results. Having said that, he may also have fielded some outside offers but he has been someone who's been completely "at home" & thrived at this team so it would need to be "an offer you can't refuse" if he's to leave.

Howson, curiously, only signed a one year extension last year but rode brilliantly at the Giro and has potential to develop into a very good mountain dom. Would have to think the team would want to keep him but what is his thinking ?

Durbridge ?? Am not sure of his future, although with the Meier retirement this does free up the space at OBE. The cobbles look to be where his optimal performance lies but he's currently up against increasing competition for precedence. Hayman MAY move on after 2017 but he'll still be up against Keukeleire (a faster finisher) for precedence as well as the developing Cort & Edmondson. He, like Matthews, MAY seek a new home.

Cheung .... not seeing this being extended unless there's some $$$$ tied to this deal.

Schultz won a stage at recent Avenir which could help his chances. A couple of years older than others on the AUS Avenir squad; will be interested to see whether some of them will make an early jump or wait another year.

I'm sure they want to keep Impey, Durbridge and Howson. Howson has impressed me this year. He will be a very important all round domestique for the grand tours in years to come and perhaps target some smaller stage races for himself (although Orica has a very WT focused racing calendar and doesn't ride many 2.1 or 2.HC races).

Is there any news on Atapuma? He was strongly linked with Orica. Txurruka and Plaza have been disappointing as climbing helpers so it would be a nice addition to go along with Kreuziger.

 

[JRanton]

Re:

Chun Kai Feng to Bahrein-Merida for two years.

Starting to scrape the barrel a bit. Visconti comments in the article on CN homepage suggests the team isn't going to be that strong next year.

 

[search]

Re: Re:

Chun Kai Feng to Bahrein-Merida for two years.

Starting to scrape the barrel a bit. Visconti comments in the article on CN homepage suggests the team isn't going to be that strong next year.

The Merida deal was always going to come with one or two Taiwanese riders in the roster though, so it's not much of a surprise

 

[JRanton]

Re: Re:

Lets break the silence in here

Robert Kiserlovski ex Tinkoff to Katusha
Van Keirsbulck ex Etixx to Wanty *confirmed*

Etixx have lost quite a lot of cobbles guys: Martin, Maes, Vandenbergh, Van Keirsbulck and Wisniowski. They will still name a very strong squad of course but they don't have quite the same depth now.

they got Declercq from Topsport who has a similar profile to Van Keirsbulck and got Devenyns and Gilbert...

Lampaert is stronger, Vermote is still there as does Keisse; Stybar, Boonen, Terpstra

so that makes 9 riders...

Gilbert won't be be riding Roubaix though? I guess only Flanders. I forgot about Devenyns. They could both ride Flanders for sure.

 

[Hakkapelit]

Re: Re:

Chun Kai Feng to Bahrein-Merida for two years.

Starting to scrape the barrel a bit. Visconti comments in the article on CN homepage suggests the team isn't going to be that strong next year.

Sounded a bit like they weren't going straight for WT.

 

[May0maniac]

Re: Re:

Chun Kai Feng to Bahrein-Merida for two years.

Starting to scrape the barrel a bit. Visconti comments in the article on CN homepage suggests the team isn't going to be that strong next year.

Sounded a bit like they weren't going straight for WT.

Payback by Saronni, at the start he was involved in the Bahrein project, then no longer (probably because of Nibali's manager and Copeland), then they got his sponsor and tried to get many Lampre riders, but he was able to find a big new main sponsor for Lampre and now all the riders who still have a contract with Lampre will stay.

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

Chris Meier retiring at the end of this season to pursue his business interests
http://www.greenedgecycling.com/news/christian-meier-announces-his-retirement.phps

He did have a OBE contract for 2017 so this may free up some space. Currently they have 23 riders contracted for next year with the following currently "undeclared":

Impey, Howson, Durbridge, Cheung (HKG), Schultz (stagiare).

Of these, Impey would seem a near certain retention given his growing utlility as a flexible super-domestique plus his capacity to bring in some results. Having said that, he may also have fielded some outside offers but he has been someone who's been completely "at home" & thrived at this team so it would need to be "an offer you can't refuse" if he's to leave.

Howson, curiously, only signed a one year extension last year but rode brilliantly at the Giro and has potential to develop into a very good mountain dom. Would have to think the team would want to keep him but what is his thinking ?

Durbridge ?? Am not sure of his future, although with the Meier retirement this does free up the space at OBE. The cobbles look to be where his optimal performance lies but he's currently up against increasing competition for precedence. Hayman MAY move on after 2017 but he'll still be up against Keukeleire (a faster finisher) for precedence as well as the developing Cort & Edmondson. He, like Matthews, MAY seek a new home.

Cheung .... not seeing this being extended unless there's some $$$$ tied to this deal.

Schultz won a stage at recent Avenir which could help his chances. A couple of years older than others on the AUS Avenir squad; will be interested to see whether some of them will make an early jump or wait another year.

I'm sure they want to keep Impey, Durbridge and Howson. Howson has impressed me this year. He will be a very important all round domestique for the grand tours in years to come and perhaps target some smaller stage races for himself (although Orica has a very WT focused racing calendar and doesn't ride many 2.1 or 2.HC races).

Is there any news on Atapuma? He was strongly linked with Orica. Txurruka and Plaza have been disappointing as climbing helpers so it would be a nice addition to go along with Kreuziger.

Plaza is contracted and has done fairly well in his role - Plaza was thrust into the TDF on the back of riding in the Giro - Tzurruka will leave at the end of 2016 - Hearing OBE will probably sign another climber type though not 100% finalised - Have no idea about Atapuma.

 

[el chava]

Re: Re:

Chun Kai Feng to Bahrein-Merida for two years.

Starting to scrape the barrel a bit. Visconti comments in the article on CN homepage suggests the team isn't going to be that strong next year.

Sounded a bit like they weren't going straight for WT.

Payback by Saronni, at the start he was involved in the Bahrein project, then no longer (probably because of Nibali's manager and Copeland), then they got his sponsor and tried to get many Lampre riders, but he was able to find a big new main sponsor for Lampre and now all the riders who still have a contract with Lampre will stay.

No Taiwanese allowed on the new China sponsored team?

 

[May0maniac]

Re: Re:

Chun Kai Feng to Bahrein-Merida for two years.

Starting to scrape the barrel a bit. Visconti comments in the article on CN homepage suggests the team isn't going to be that strong next year.

Sounded a bit like they weren't going straight for WT.

Payback by Saronni, at the start he was involved in the Bahrein project, then no longer (probably because of Nibali's manager and Copeland), then they got his sponsor and tried to get many Lampre riders, but he was able to find a big new main sponsor for Lampre and now all the riders who still have a contract with Lampre will stay.

No Taiwanese allowed on the new China sponsored team?

No, probably just a chase of the Taiwanese only having a contract with the team because of Merida, now that Merida is gone they'll probably follow Merida. The new Lampe team will probably have a few Chinese riders, but the more interesting thing is probably the fact that the best Chinese prospects will get a chance to ride for Team Colpack.

 

[robin440]

"Also Docker has done no GT's in 2016 which is a good way to shorten a rider's career - Read Meier.

What does that mean? if a rider doesn't ride a grand tour, he will be less strong in the following year or what?

 

[pastronef]

According to Patxi Vila, Konig will sign for Bora.

that should be a reliable source, since Patxi´s liason with Specialized

 

[dirkprovin]

Re: Re:

Chris Meier retiring at the end of this season to pursue his business interests
http://www.greenedgecycling.com/news/christian-meier-announces-his-retirement.phps

He did have a OBE contract for 2017 so this may free up some space. Currently they have 23 riders contracted for next year with the following currently "undeclared":

Impey, Howson, Durbridge, Cheung (HKG), Schultz (stagiare).

Of these, Impey would seem a near certain retention given his growing utlility as a flexible super-domestique plus his capacity to bring in some results. Having said that, he may also have fielded some outside offers but he has been someone who's been completely "at home" & thrived at this team so it would need to be "an offer you can't refuse" if he's to leave.

Howson, curiously, only signed a one year extension last year but rode brilliantly at the Giro and has potential to develop into a very good mountain dom. Would have to think the team would want to keep him but what is his thinking ?

Durbridge ?? Am not sure of his future, although with the Meier retirement this does free up the space at OBE. The cobbles look to be where his optimal performance lies but he's currently up against increasing competition for precedence. Hayman MAY move on after 2017 but he'll still be up against Keukeleire (a faster finisher) for precedence as well as the developing Cort & Edmondson. He, like Matthews, MAY seek a new home.

Cheung .... not seeing this being extended unless there's some $$$$ tied to this deal.

Schultz won a stage at recent Avenir which could help his chances. A couple of years older than others on the AUS Avenir squad; will be interested to see whether some of them will make an early jump or wait another year.

I'm sure they want to keep Impey, Durbridge and Howson. Howson has impressed me this year. He will be a very important all round domestique for the grand tours in years to come and perhaps target some smaller stage races for himself (although Orica has a very WT focused racing calendar and doesn't ride many 2.1 or 2.HC races).

Is there any news on Atapuma? He was strongly linked with Orica. Txurruka and Plaza have been disappointing as climbing helpers so it would be a nice addition to go along with Kreuziger.

Plaza is contracted and has done fairly well in his role - Plaza was thrust into the TDF on the back of riding in the Giro - Tzurruka will leave at the end of 2016 - Hearing OBE will probably sign another climber type though not 100% finalised - Have no idea about Atapuma.

Txurruka DOES appear to have a 2 year deal looking on the CQ listings; whether that is the truth I'm not certain. He WAS useful at a couple of points of the Giro, particularly as part of one very slick team manoevre with Howson springboarding Chaves on the Colle D'Agnello, but I do agree Plaza is of greater utility.

Interestingly, they seem to be allowing Haig (neo-pro) to go full distance at this current Vuelta; clearly they'll probably draw curtains on what has been an impressive neo-pro season after this. Power has made a recent return to racing but he's effectively lost an entire season. Have heard some whispers that they have some interest in Jai Hindley who finished 5th at Tour de L'Avenir, as well as 2nd at the Ras in IRE, 18th at Herald Sun Tour & 6th at Fleche Ardennaise.

It was curious that they only renewed for one season last year with Howson; I'd have to think he's certainly earned a raise from his showings this year (particularly Giro). Durbridge certainly offers great flat-land grunt utility for the team and with the likes of Tuft & Hayman nearing the end; this will still be a required commodity. Just not 100% sure they can give him the precedence he may aspire to for the cobbled classics where, as yet, he hasn't produced the results that demand it.

Struggling to see Impey "moving on" given how much he's been at home at this team and how valuable he continues to be at so many races. Having said that, looking at how he rode in support of Yates at the Tour; he's clearly in line for a pay rise and it would not be surprising that he would attract offers.

 

[StryderHells]

Re: Re:

Chris Meier retiring at the end of this season to pursue his business interests
http://www.greenedgecycling.com/news/christian-meier-announces-his-retirement.phps

He did have a OBE contract for 2017 so this may free up some space. Currently they have 23 riders contracted for next year with the following currently "undeclared":

Impey, Howson, Durbridge, Cheung (HKG), Schultz (stagiare).

Of these, Impey would seem a near certain retention given his growing utlility as a flexible super-domestique plus his capacity to bring in some results. Having said that, he may also have fielded some outside offers but he has been someone who's been completely "at home" & thrived at this team so it would need to be "an offer you can't refuse" if he's to leave.

Howson, curiously, only signed a one year extension last year but rode brilliantly at the Giro and has potential to develop into a very good mountain dom. Would have to think the team would want to keep him but what is his thinking ?

Durbridge ?? Am not sure of his future, although with the Meier retirement this does free up the space at OBE. The cobbles look to be where his optimal performance lies but he's currently up against increasing competition for precedence. Hayman MAY move on after 2017 but he'll still be up against Keukeleire (a faster finisher) for precedence as well as the developing Cort & Edmondson. He, like Matthews, MAY seek a new home.

Cheung .... not seeing this being extended unless there's some $$$$ tied to this deal.

Schultz won a stage at recent Avenir which could help his chances. A couple of years older than others on the AUS Avenir squad; will be interested to see whether some of them will make an early jump or wait another year.

I'm sure they want to keep Impey, Durbridge and Howson. Howson has impressed me this year. He will be a very important all round domestique for the grand tours in years to come and perhaps target some smaller stage races for himself (although Orica has a very WT focused racing calendar and doesn't ride many 2.1 or 2.HC races).

Is there any news on Atapuma? He was strongly linked with Orica. Txurruka and Plaza have been disappointing as climbing helpers so it would be a nice addition to go along with Kreuziger.

Plaza is contracted and has done fairly well in his role - Plaza was thrust into the TDF on the back of riding in the Giro - Tzurruka will leave at the end of 2016 - Hearing OBE will probably sign another climber type though not 100% finalised - Have no idea about Atapuma.

Txurruka DOES appear to have a 2 year deal looking on the CQ listings; whether that is the truth I'm not certain. He WAS useful at a couple of points of the Giro, particularly as part of one very slick team manoevre with Howson springboarding Chaves on the Colle D'Agnello, but I do agree Plaza is of greater utility

Txurruka only has a 1 year deal with OBE http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/orica-greenedge-pounce-to-sign-amets-txurruka-for-2016/ CQ listings has it wrong. Howson is a certainty to be re-signed and I'd think the only reason for the delay is working out the details of the deal as he's clearly earned a pay bump in my opinion. They'll sign another climbing type no doubt but to who that is I have no idea, I can see why they'd be interested in Hindley but he's only 20 (May 96)and could do with another season in the under 23's.

 

[claude cat]

Re: Re:

OBE have no obvious replacement for Matthews who leaves a big hole.

IMO that's not necessarily a bad thing. Matthews has had a fairly mediocre year for mine (sure the team dynamics might have had something to do with that), but increasingly he's head to head with Sagan, and you know how that's going to play out more often than not.
They still have options in the classics, and would hope for further improvement from the types like Cort.
Edmonson has won the U23 Tour of Flanders and with a full commitment to road next year might show they have yet another option.

 

[42x16ss]

Re: Re:

OBE have no obvious replacement for Matthews who leaves a big hole.

IMO that's not necessarily a bad thing. Matthews has had a fairly mediocre year for mine (sure the team dynamics might have had something to do with that), but increasingly he's head to head with Sagan, and you know how that's going to play out more often than not.
They still have options in the classics, and would hope for further improvement from the types like Cort.
Edmonson has won the U23 Tour of Flanders and with a full commitment to road next year might show they have yet another option.

Agree on it not necessarily being a bad thing re: Matthews, as Durbridge seems to finally be improving again and there's the Yates, Chaves, Howson, Haig and Verona who should be at least somewhat suited to the Ardennes and/or Italian Autumn classics along with Kreuziger and Albasini. Cort, Docker, Juul-Jensen, Mezgec, Ewan and Impey are all able to do something in one or two of the various classics as well, then there's Edmondson yet to come in as mentioned earlier. If Power can get back on track medically, who knows what he's capable of.

Losing Matthews will certainly sting a little, but only for a year, two at most. The greatly improving GC ability should offset this.

 

[claude cat]

Concur.

Latest interview with Power on CT (today) indicates he's traveling pretty well and is over his ailment.

 

[42x16ss]

I saw that. After Power's showings in 2014/15 pre-condition, he's looking like a monster in the making. Hopefully there's no lasting effect.

 

[coimbrawu]

Re: Re:

Chun Kai Feng to Bahrein-Merida for two years.

Starting to scrape the barrel a bit. Visconti comments in the article on CN homepage suggests the team isn't going to be that strong next year.

Sounded a bit like they weren't going straight for WT.

Payback by Saronni, at the start he was involved in the Bahrein project, then no longer (probably because of Nibali's manager and Copeland), then they got his sponsor and tried to get many Lampre riders, but he was able to find a big new main sponsor for Lampre and now all the riders who still have a contract with Lampre will stay.

No Taiwanese allowed on the new China sponsored team?

Feng and Xu were brought to Lampre as Merida became the sponsor of Lampre, part of reason due to Ji Cheng rides for Giant-Alpecin. And Giant is the big rival of Giant in China, so they brought these riders as a kind of marketing strategy. Of course it is for Taiwan market as Feng is the most famous pro cyclist there. So Feng moved to Bahrain just because of Merida.