The season is still in full swing, and the transfer market is officially open. It never actually closes, but contracts can be made official starting August 1st. And so the first transfer bombshells have already arrived. What bombs? Bettiol at Astana-Qazaqstan live and Alaphilippe at Tudor, from next season.
But there's a lot of new stuff. There's a lot of chaos going on. There are over 70 exchanges (including internal transfers between the first team and the second team) made official in the last month, among men.
And let's not forget the major transfer moves for women, such as Vollering joining Fdj Suez (unofficially) alongside Labous. Longo Borghini leaving Lidl-Trek and the return to the road, this one officially, of the new Olympic MTB champion. Pauline Ferrand Prevot to the Visma-Lease a Bike.
Astana International
Let's start with Vinokourov's Astana. While we wait for their main sponsor from China, XDS Carbon-Tech (they've already made some progress with the 2025 bikes), some significant changes have already taken place. For a Bettiol and a Wout Poels arriving, a Lutsenko leaving. Alexey was a pillar of this team and of Kazakh cycling. His departure is a small revolution, for this team that is starting to increasingly push beyond national borders.
Morkov and Cavendish will retire, two key positions that will certainly be filled, including by Italian riders. One of these is Romele, formerly in the Kazakh ranks, but with the DeVo team, who is moving up to the first team. While some rumors say that Battistella, whose contract is expiring, could change air, another Italian athlete, now in the WT, could join the turquoise.
The Kazakh team is hungry for points and will fight tooth and nail to stay in the top division. Other important moves are not ruled out.
Red Bull and Soudal intertwined
Who is continuing his transformation, as we he also said Benedetti yesterday, it's the Red Bull-Bora. Not just the Grand Tours in the mix, here we want to grow on multiple fronts: youth, classics, and time trials. Taken the young Fisher-Black, Phitie and above all our Pellizzari, There has been a huge outflow of historic riders, between those who have ended their careers and those who have changed teams. For example Buchman Cofidis passes, not without some controversy. Kamna goes to Lidl-Trek. Jungels and Schachmann also leave, to Ineos-Grenadiers and Soudal-Quick Step, respectively, teams with which there are potential ties.
Unlike Red Bull-Bora, Soudal-Quick Step is increasingly rallying around one man, its symbol: Remco Evenepoel. Schachmann was brought in specifically to help Remco and in this sense there seems to be an option for the Paret-Peintre brothers. And the fact that Alaphilippe will leave the team is also indicative. The old guard is almost gone, given that Asgreen will also leave, to Uno-X.
Lefevere's team for the cobblestone classics is no longer the battle-hardened one it once was. For now, at least, let's let him raise the boys at home. The role of Ethan Hayter, which will come from Ineos.
But there is another thing that links these two teams at this stage of the transfer market, perhaps the most important rumour of the entire transfer market: Remco Evenepoel, yes him.
The Austrian brand of the well-known soft drink wants to set up a giant on a par with UAE Emirates and Visma-Lease a Bike. And so they seem to be heading towards Ralph Denk's team: Remco, Tratnik, the two Van Dijkes (also from Visma) and Tom Pidcock.
Ineos, what are you doing?
The name of pidcock takes us home Ineos-Grenadiers. Her Majesty's elf has a very weighty clue that directs him towards the German team: the personal sponsor, which coincidentally is none other than Red Bull. Sources close to the team reported that Tom wasn't thrilled about being lined up for the Tour. He's a biker and wants to compete in more mountain bike races. Perhaps at Red Bull he'd have more freedom and less pressure, given the many champions present.
Having put aside the rumours of a massive and costly attack on Evenepoel (more than unlikely now for 2025), one really wonders what this former superpower of modern cycling will do. It is said that the owner of Ineos also wants to invest a lot, but for now there is no mega big and on top of that they also lost the two Hayters.
Ineos has been good but not formidable against the youngsters, which is what one would have expected given the absence, at least at this stage of its history, of the super name. Let's not forget that Narvaez also departs, destination UAE Emirates, and Viviani whose contract is expiring. Will Carlos Rodriguez and Joshua Tarling be able to “hold the show”?
The eternal challenge
And here we are at the challenge between UAE Emirates and Visma-Lease a Bike. On paper it seems difficult to strengthen two teams like this., especially the UAEAnd let's not be fooled by the yellow and blacks' not-so-lucky year, their squad remains super. In any case, even for Vingegaard one was taken Yates, Simon clearlyThe twins will be more rivals than ever in this derby for dominance of the WT and the Tour de France.
It would be interesting to know if Simon will reveal some “espionage” information that his brother perhaps confessed to him when he still didn't know about his transfer to Visma.
In any case, UAE he took Narvaez, a versatile rider who can be useful to the cause of the classics and beyond. And always with a view to the classics he has taken Florian Vermeersch, a nice beast from Lotto-Dstny.
On the other hand, Visma's transfer market saw the arrival of Axel Zingle, Victor Campenaerts and Mike Teunissen, in addition to Simon Yates.
In all of this, we will have to see how things go for the two big names in these teams: Ayuso and Van Aert.
It is said that the Spaniard would like to change air, because he is suffocated by Pogacar, but Matxin denied allWhile for Van Aert the same thing applies as for Pidcock regarding the sponsor: he too is Red Bull. However, it is also true that The owner of Visma, who has always been "in love" with Wout, will not let such an important figure go away, both on the technical and marketing fronts. for his supermarkets in Belgium and the Netherlands. Wout is incredibly popular. And even Red Bull-Bora can't take them all, all of them!
Tudor Queen
For the rest, there are many other "small", but interesting, movements. One is the passage of lenny martinez laid down by the Groupama-FDJ where he grew up Bahrain-Victorious. With Tiberi here we want to form the couple of the future.
And in general it's interesting to see the market of the many movements of the French teams, between young people and established riders that change. In this sense, a real revolution is affecting the CofidisVia Zingle, Guillaume Martin (to Groupama-Fdj) and Geschke (end of career) The red and white team has already signed six athletes and another six are expected to arrive. Among those nominated is also Lorenzo Rota, at the end of the contract with the Intermarché-Wanty.
Finally, the market is excellent Tudor ProCycling Team. Patron Cancellara has taken, as mentioned at the beginning, Julien Alaphilippe, but also another big name: Marc Hirsch. Without counting Marco Haller, Excellent considering these two signings. And three more riders from their dedicated team.
So much to do, and it's not over yet. We'll see what autumn has in store. Last-minute trades often left more of an impact than others, proposing hungry riders for the following season.
