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Teams & Riders The Great Big Cycling Transfers and Rumours Thread

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If its about money and nothing else then good riddance.
I doubt that according to (legit) Swiss cycling media his wage went up from 500k to 1.3M and they told him that he'd be the team leader in one day races (not sure how Formolo feels about that one).
Source: https://www.lenouvelliste.ch/articl...-est-pressenti-chez-uae-team-emirates-1027585
While that's still a lot of money, it's not a lifechanging payday for a guy who was already making half a million per season this season (and the coming season). I guess it has more to do with the former Sunweb team just being the former Sunweb team, they have a track record of driving their biggest names out of the team.
 
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Money aside (which is a perfectly good reason in and of itself) it's likely that UAE with Pogacar are going to be a real force in the coming years, backed by oil money, whereas DSM/Sunweb punched above their weight and might have been seen by Hirschi as a little shakier in the long term. It might also have been about the support system...going to the second-richest team from a midpack team like Sunweb means better support, better domestiques, fancier hotels/food etc...
 
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and they told him that he'd be the team leader in one day races (not sure how Formolo feels about that one).
Other than Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Formolo only finished in the top10 of a classic once in the last 5 years and Hirschi seems to be a more versatile rider than him so I can't see too many clashes here.

On the other hand, UAE will be scary in LBL with them two and Pogacar, should all 3 be in form in there.
 
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Other than Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Formolo only finished in the top10 of a classic once in the last 5 years and Hirschi seems to be a more versatile rider than him so I can't see too many clashes here.

On the other hand, UAE will be scary in LBL with them two and Pogacar, should all 3 be in form in there.
Formolo always needs to attack from further out because of his lack of a sprint, while Hirschi can follow attacks and trush his sprint, on paper it should be a great combination.
We kinda need a team that can go toe to toe with Quickstep in LBL, their potential firepower is scary. The Ala-Remco combination and guys like Almeida and Bagioli, that's one hell of a team.
 
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Well, Sunweb gained Lorena Wiebes through the same "oh, you just signed a contract but you now think you're worth more money so shouldn't have to honour it?" tactic, so it's hard to feel too much sympathy.

Maybe not in relating to the situation or Sunweb, but if someone has just signed a contract and is asking for a raise not long after... then I dont think "they" are completely at fault for not granting it.

If someone is performing extraordinary, it might behove them to show gratitude or give them a bonus or a raise for the next one. Renegotiate a new deal well in time before the other runs out.

But giving them a new deal after a contract is just signed or not too long ago, and it got years still running on it, then I dont blame the company for not doing it straight away. They still believed enough in them to sign them and been taking care of them. Reaping the benefits of a good investment, even though it is people we are talking about. Thats how sport works to a degree also though. You buy/sign someone because you believe in their talent. If they perform, you can sell/let go of for a profit.

And if you as an employee are not appreciated for your efforts, then you leave if you know your worth or if they simply cant offer the price of other suitors.
 
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Maybe not in relating to the situation or Sunweb, but if someone has just signed a contract and is asking for a raise not long after... then I dont think "they" are completely at fault for not granting it.

If someone is performing extraordinary, it might behove them to show gratitude or give them a bonus or a raise for the next one. Renegotiate a new deal well in time before the other runs out.

But giving them a new deal after a contract is just signed or not too long ago, and it got years still running on it, then I dont blame the company for not doing it straight away. They still believed enough in them to sign them and been taking care of them. Reaping the benefits of a good investment, even though it is people we are talking about. Thats how sport works to a degree also though. You buy/sign someone because you believe in their talent. If they perform, you can sell/let go of for a profit.

And if you as an employee are not appreciated for your efforts, then you leave if you know your worth or if they simply cant offer the price of other suitors.
Sure, but the thing with Wiebes was that she signed the contract with Parkhotel and then literally, like, a week later, started trying to break it to get more money. That contract hadn't even come into effect and if she was of the opinion that further results would increase her value she had every right to not sign the contract with Parkhotel, and if they were pressuring her to sign at a set time before she had had the time to negotiate in good faith with others then she would have had the right to protest that.

And while she didn't do anything wrong per se in wantinig to maximise her value in the market to gain maximum earnings from her results, doing so immediately after signing a contract is also not a good look and does not reflect well on her in terms of loyalty and honour, which may then affect her in future contract negotiations. Just like how a 'sign + trade' affects athletes' trust in the management, signing and then demanding a trade immediately affects managements' trust in an athlete.
 
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It's pretty common that teams actually raise salary during a contract period. Deceuninck Quick-Step have done it with Remco and Almeida for example. It's valuing a rider for their worth and it helps keeping riders at the end of contracts (although I doubt in this example Deceunink will be able to keep Almeida after 2021 with crazy offers coming his way).
I'm sure Sunweb/DSM did the same in the past.
Accepting money from other teams to buy out a rider is also becoming very common and has actually been part of some teams' "business model". Certainly teams who have had it rough these last few years (Bardiani, Savio's team, but also teams like EF and even Deceuninck.
From what I understand money WASN'T the issue though. A fee wasn't payed to buy him out. It was a breach following the non-respect of the teams strict rules. Some suggest that Hirschi might have forced his way out this way. That could make sense as Hirschi's people were already looking for a transfer since spring last year.
 
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It's pretty common that teams actually raise salary during a contract period. Deceuninck Quick-Step have done it with Remco and Almeida for example. It's valuing a rider for their worth and it helps keeping riders at the end of contracts (although I doubt in this example Deceunink will be able to keep Almeida after 2021 with crazy offers coming his way).
I'm sure Sunweb/DSM did the same in the past.
Accepting money from other teams to buy out a rider is also becoming very common and has actually been part of some teams' "business model". Certainly teams who have had it rough these last few years (Bardiani, Savio's team, but also teams like EF and even Deceuninck.
From what I understand money WASN'T the issue though. A fee wasn't payed to buy him out. It was a breach following the non-respect of the teams strict rules. Some suggest that Hirschi might have forced his way out this way. That could make sense as Hirschi's people were already looking for a transfer since spring last year.

What do you mean by "breach"? Do you know something or are you just guessing?

(There are about a dozen ways he could have gotten out of his Sunweb contract, but to me, deliberately violating a team rule would be the least honorable.)
 
What do you mean by "breach"? Do you know something or are you just guessing?

(There are about a dozen ways he could have gotten out of his Sunweb contract, but to me, deliberately violating a team rule would be the least honorable.)

Articles in Belgian media (who are usually well informed) mentioned that "ethic reasons" were the reason to terminate the contract early.
 

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