Cycling: the boss of Soudal-Quick Step confirms discussions on the merger with Jumbo which will lose Roglic

2023-09-30 13:41:27

There will be one less star ego to manage for the potential Soudal-Quick Setp – Jumbo-Visma alloy. At the start of the Tour of Emilia this Saturday, Primoz Roglic announced that he will leave the Dutch team at the end of the season. “I can only say that I am going to leave the team,” explained the winner of the Tour of Italy, while his current team is in talks with another big engine to consider a merger.

The rumor had come out in recent days, based on information from Cycling flash. A two-headed monster could be born within the peloton: a united formation from an alliance between Jumbo-Visma and Soudal-Quick-Step. Patrick Lefevere, manager of the second team mentioned, confirmed the information in his weekly column for the Flemish daily The Newspaper. The current boss of Julian Alaphilippe spoke of a “letter of intent” between the two biggest teams in the world of cycling.

“There should be a lot more clarity by Monday,” he added, while specifying that the first discussions between the Czech billionaire Zdenek Bakala, patron of his team, and the Dutch businessman Robert van der Wallen, co-owner of Jumbo-Visma, were held before and during the 2023 Tour de France.

The Evenepoel case addressed

These negotiations are the result of upheavals within each team: sponsor Jumbo is expected to withdraw soon, while Lefevere wants to step back after 30 years at the head of a cycling team. “I will be 69 in January, age plays a role. I would even say that I have had enough now,” he explains, but assures that he “does not want to let the team down.”

“With three parties – Soudal, Quick-Step and Visma – everyone can proportionally find their place,” says the Belgian manager, surprised by the rumors of recent days reporting the arrival of Amazon in the partnership of the future team. “With Amazon as a fourth party, this would no longer work. As far as I know, there had been no talk of their arrival last week. This could be a game changer.”

This merger would bring together an armada of 50 riders, from Jonas Vingegaard to Alaphilippe, including Sepp Kuss, Wout van Aert and Remco Evenepoel. Lefevere also said a little more about the latter. “Obviously, the desire is for Remco to stay on board with the project,” explained the Belgian. I asked Jumbo-Visma to speak to him, which they did.”