2023-10-06 16:14:08
Fusion, not fusion? The episode of the rapprochement between Jumbo-Visma and Soudal-Quick Step (or rather the absorption of the second by the first) turns into confusion. According to the Sporza website, the two entities ultimately decided to continue on their own paths.
On the Soudal-Quick Step side, manager Patrick Lefevere and financier Zdenek Bakala would continue the adventure together until 2025 maximum. On the Visma side, the American commerce giant Amazon will arrive. Obviously, the deadlines were too short to close the negotiations and present all the official documents to the UCI, which had set a deadline of October 16.
The news will put an end to the upheavals that have shaken the cycling world since the announcement on September 24 by the Wielerflits site of a union between the two heavyweights (Jumbo-Visma still won the three major Tours this season) to give a juggernaut of the peloton.
Originally, Jumbo will stop its bicycle partnership after 2024. Over the summer, discussions took place between Bakala and Dutch billionaire Robert van de Wallen, who sits on the supervisory board of Jumbo-Visma, then between Lefevere and Richard Plugge, his counterpart from Jumbo-Visma. To the point that the two groups had even signed a letter of intent.
Their union would have left around twenty runners in the lurch (not to mention all the management) from October 19. A UCI team can in fact have a maximum of 30 athletes and the sum of the two entities represents 50 riders. The most emblematic case is that of Remco Evenepoel, quickly announced at Ineos if Soudal-Quick Step were to disappear.
“We don’t know anything,” said the Belgian champion on Friday morning on the sidelines of the presentation of the Tour of Lombardy. For now, there are just question marks for everyone. All we can see is wait and hope that this ends well (…) The atmosphere is a bit weird, confused…”
“We don’t know much. It’s a bit complicated in everyone’s head. We try to stay focused on the race. We hope that the situation will be resolved, that we will have news, because it’s a bit annoying, explained double world champion Julian Alaphilippe a few days ago. It’s sad. It is a team that has been at the heart of cycling for many years and with a history. »
#Cycling #merger #JumboVisma #SoudalQuick #Step