Transfer season is afoot...
 

big big changes at bora. looks like they will be trying to compete with ineos and team jv in the gc during the gt races among others.
hindley, kelderman, schachmann, buchmann, higuita and vlasov pretty formidable squadron. they should still retain felix g, lukas, kämna,
ide, konrad and nils. beyond solid.

and they're bringing sam bennett back...ciao to ackermann and that peter dude...

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/hol...ora-hansgrohe/

Any idea yet where Peter and the Sagantourage are going to end up?

I'm also curious where G winds up riding. Dare I say if? Lots of churn at Ineos coming. Among other places.

I'm wondering what's going to happen with Alpecin Fenix. MvdP must cost a bundle, and with Phillpsen and Merlier, they had a pretty good classics/sprint corps going. Will they continue to build or lose their talent to teams with deeper pockets?

Surely Sagan and Thomas are headed for significant pay cuts.

Rumors during the TdF were Sagan and entourage to Total Energies, Merlier to Quick-Step. I haven't seen any new news since then about them.

Total Energies is mostly UCI Continental and doesn't get invited to many World Tour events, so that would be a big step down from one of the World Tour regular teams. Or would signing Sagan promote their status?

It's official that Sagan and his whole entourage are leaving B-H.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/pet...ora-hansgrohe/

Not yet official where they are going, but yes, Total Energie, it seems. Except Ackermann.

Yes, TotalEnergies, and he's bringing Specialized with him.

and they'll likely get invites when necessary.

can see ef taking a flyer on g thomas after losing dani martinez and higuita in rapid succession. he looks good in pink...

but if uae swoops in and takes him...wowzers.

As far as I'm concerned, there's a good chance that he's damaged goods. Not to the extent of Froome, mind you, but any team that goes for him is risking blowing a big part of their budget on a non-performing asset.

^ he had a very respectable spring and I think he will win more races if he gets to them. But he can't ride in bubble wrap and isn't worth a premium price without it.

Higuita, hindley, vlasov purchase is like going to the store and buying "instant mountain power" :eek:

Dang another loss for EF.

I heard a rumour Dan Martin may be looking around also?

I feel like he'd be a great road captain and super domestic, the difference between him and Froome - Froome's a professional and does his job, but G has always been in this role up to his surprise TdF win so I think it will be less of a change. He probably will take a pay cut to stay, lots of new talent to mentor.

G not as disappointing as Porte has been in the second half of the season so far. Who knows maybe Geraint will just go back to something track related?

Sam Bennett back to Bora Hansgrohe, together with a strong leadout train. Ewan staying with Lotto. Those are going to be the sprinters to beat.If they both stay healthy, then that is going to make it tough for Cav to get that final TdF stage win.

If....

everything had to break just right for cavendish to take advantage of the best lead out train in the biz during the tdf. does it happen again in the next two tdf’s? what are the odds?

Yes, it will be tough. Is Le Tour ever not?

Quick Step will be sans Deceunick and will me in there mixing it up. I wonder with whom at the end of their train. If it's Cav, he'll have a shot.

Back to the future at DQS? Cavendish AND Viviani?

https://www.velonews.com/news/mark-c...c-c34472415211

Some serious Lazarus action being contemplated there.

Interesting move. I wonder what role JV hopes to see him play?

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/roh...r-jumbo-visma/

Lots of signings and stuff, and now also the applications for World Tour teams. I'm kind of surprised that Alpecin Fenix hasn't applied to be a World Tour team. They certainly seem to have enough of a payroll. Is it because they know they'll get invitations to all the races anyway, and they don't want to field teams across the schedule?

Also, with Sagan on board, where's Totalenergie's WT application? I guess there are other chances.

I don't understand the mechanics and economics of the leagues well enough to think it through, but I'm guessing there might be a sweet spot at the top of the Pro teams where you get enough invites to top races to attract sponsorship, but you can pass on some of the onerous World team obligations.

Viviani back to Ineos
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/eli...os-grenadiers/

Could be interesting. It's not at all clear to me how Ineos is going to solve its puzzles. So much GC talent, but they can't beat Pogacar and Roglic. So what kind of team do they want to be? Are they going to support Viviani with some lead out? Or....

ineos will likely use viviani for some of the lesser, one-days with some of the young punks and nab a few of those races throughout the year.
do i see them throwing vivi into a gt (prob the giro) to potentially snag a few stages in the first week while ultimately supporting the gc (and tt's for ganna)
for one of the many many gc riders? absolutely. team would be driving the train every darned day but they've got the talent and the horses.

do i see vivi being as successful as he was with dqs? no. better than with cofidis? yes. better than the first go-round with sky/ineos? probably slightly as
the team seems to be verrry slowly morphing away from the gt's are the end all be all mentality. bleep ton of gc riders tho...

I don't know what the heck is going on at Ineos. The Rider of Rohan is going over to J-V to replace the Panzerwagen doing big time in the wind, and now they're dabbling in sprinters?

Good luck to Viviani finding a resurgence off the track to match his resurgence on the track.

Good luck to Ineos finding a new paradigm. Not sure how the two go together, but that's why I'm waxing lyrically on a podunk discussion board (full of GREAT people!) rather than drawing a salary from Dave Brailsford.