2017 World Tour transfer rumours (and facts)

TheBlaaMan

A lot of announcements are due in the coming days, so it seems sense to have thread to post rumours etc. Lots of riders are out of contract and there is likely to be many changes, which - as ever - will pivot around some key riders such as Contador, Sagan and Nibali, to name just 3.

The Bahrain project is definitely going ahead (confirmed today) but as yet it is not sure if they will apply for a WT license, two of which will be available with the demise of IAM and Tinkoff, though the latter is still a bit up-in-the air, it seems. Bora-Hansgrohe are due to step up, so presumably this leaves one license free? It is the Bahrain and Bora teams that are at the centre of a lot of the spending and consequently a lot of the transfers....

Maybe someone with the means to do so can make the first post an editable one for a few weeks?

I'm not going to try to list those riders who are staying put......
KNOWN:
Joachim Rodrigeuz - Retiring
Johan van Summeren - Retiring
Fabian Cancellara - Retiring
Xabier Zandio - Retiring
Peter Sagan to Bora-Hansgrohe * (Juraj Sagan also moving with Peter)
Alberto Contador to Trek-Segafredo *
Vincenzo Nibali to Bahrain project *
Michael Matthews to Giant *

RUMOURED:
Nicolas Roche to BMC *
Phillipe Gilbert to Etixx QS *
Stijn vandenBergh to AG2R *
Rafal Majka to Bora-Hansgrohe *
Tony Martin to Bora-Hansgrohe or Katusha ***
Jesus Hernandez to Trek-Segafredo **
John Degenkolb to Trek-Segafredo **
Koen de Kort to Trek-Segafredo **
Leopold König to ?Bora? ***
Sep Vanmarcke to ??? (moving somewhere - was to be Etixx but not now)
Owain Doull to Sky ***
Roman Kreuziger to Katusha
Moreno Moser to Astana
Oscar Gatto to Astana
Diego Rosa to Sky
Jarlinson Pantano to Trek-Segafredo
Giovanni Visconti to Bahrain Project
Salvatore Puccio to Bahrain Project
Roger Kluge to Bora-Hansrohe
Lars Boom to Lotto-Jumbo
Julien Vermote to Sky, staying with Etixx *
Carlos Verona to Orica *
Arnold Jeannesson to Fortuneo - Vital Concept *
Adam Blythe to Dimension Data (?) *

sources:
* Cyclingnews
** Cyclingtips
*** Cyclingweekly

LCD

Any word on Philip Deignan for next year? He doesn't seemed to have raced a lot since the Giro. Also in pro cycling terms he is coming on in years.

Hager

I wonder would Philip Deignan be a possibility for the new Aquablue pro conti team. He could be a very strong leader there.

godtabh

Hager wrote: »

I wonder would Philip Deignan be a possibility for the new Aquablue pro conti team. He could be a very strong leader there.

Would they have the budget for him (even if he was to take a large pay cut)?

cunavalos

It looks as if Bahrain may take over the Lampre-Merida WT license and Lampre drop back to Pro Continental Level.
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/racing/more-details-revealed-as-bahrain-cycling-team-officially-announced-266782
This might mean the likes of Meintjes, Ulissi, Rui Costa may also make the move

carltonleon

I would expect that Luis Meintjes would be in demand following his recent excellent showing in the tour.

TheBlaaMan

Matteo Tosatto looking to continue with a new team as Tinkoff folds, despite being 42....horse.:cool:

MPFGLB

carltonleon wrote: »

I would expect that Luis Meintjes would be in demand following his recent excellent showing in the tour.

Meintjes is rumoured for Bahrain as well ..Carlton Kirby wonlt like it as he still hasn't gotten over him leaving Bora

MPFGLB

if you look at the list of riders..some top riders out of contract this year it is mind blowing

http://www.procyclingstats.com/teams?c=5&sc=2&type=2

godtabh

MPFGLB wrote: »

if you look at the list of riders..some top riders out of contract this year it is mind blowing

http://www.procyclingstats.com/teams?c=5&sc=2&type=2

When you filter that by nation it doesnt list Deignan

LCD

Crazy some of the riders who can't get (or don't yet have) teams for 2017.

Seen a debate on Twitter yesterday evening about how young guys should not work or study & concentrate full time on bike in order to make it. You worry when you see how many top class cyclists struggle to find teams.

Darkglasses

Weepsie wrote: »

Any prospect of Quintana tapping up Pantano and Henao to come join him and give him two team mates who'd be able to stick with him and push sky a bit more?

I wouldn't think so, on the basis of Quintana having the charisma of a flat tyre. Have heard in a few different places that he isn't particularly well liked in his own team, in spite of all his talent.

Brian?

LCD wrote: »

Crazy some of the riders who can't get (or don't yet have) teams for 2017.

Seen a debate on Twitter yesterday evening about how young guys should not work or study & concentrate full time on bike in order to make it. You worry when you see how many top class cyclists struggle to find teams.

Jaysus lads, it's not even August yet. Cycling is constantly in a state of flux as teams are so reliant on a main sponsor.

Is this year unusual for the amount of riders out of contract or are we hyper aware of it because the info is so readily available?

Brian?

Darkglasses wrote: »

I wouldn't think so, on the basis of Quintana having the charisma of a flat tyre. Have heard in a few different places that he isn't particularly well liked in his own team, in spite of all his talent.

That could be because he doesn't get on with Valverde. I'm definitely on Nairo's side there.

MPFGLB

LCD wrote: »

Crazy some of the riders who can't get (or don't yet have) teams for 2017.

Seen a debate on Twitter yesterday evening about how young guys should not work or study & concentrate full time on bike in order to make it. You worry when you see how many top class cyclists struggle to find teams.

I guess in life you need to follow your dreams otherwise you may have more problems with unhappiness, depression, etc

Cycling is a very difficult sport to get on in and it is not paid well especially in comparison to other sports but you can always study while a cyclists ..there is lots of time between and after races

Pozzovivo did a degree (not sure in what) , Quinziato has completed a degree in law...I believe Adam Hansen in engineering.and there must be lost more

I wonlt be surprised if Philip Deignan continued study as he has (supposed) to be at Uni when he took cycling

Anyway nowadays pople work for so long it is possible to have more than one career


As for riders without a team this year is particulary difficult with the closer of 2 WT teams

Taxuser1

MPFGLB wrote: »

Meintjes is rumoured for Bahrain as well ..Carlton Kirby wonlt like it as he still hasn't gotten over him leaving Bora

MTN Qhubeka/Dimension Data :-)

MPFGLB

Taxuser1 wrote: »

MTN Qhubeka/Dimension Data :-)

Yes of course DIm Data

godtabh

MPFGLB wrote: »

I guess in life you need to follow your dreams otherwise you may have more problems with unhappiness, depression, etc

Cycling is a very difficult sport to get on in and it is not paid well especially in comparison to other sports but you can always study while a cyclists ..there is lots of time between and after races

Pozzovivo did a degree (not sure in what) , Quinziato has completed a degree in law...I believe Adam Hansen in engineering.and there must be lost more

I wonlt be surprised if Philip Deignan continued study as he has (supposed) to be at Uni when he took cycling

Anyway nowadays pople work for so long it is possible to have more than one career


As for riders without a team this year is particulary difficult with the closer of 2 WT teams

You can tell Hansen is an engineer

Macy0161

They're still not supposed to announce until 1st August, so I wouldn't be reading too much into the big names without a team just yet!

Pudsy33

Weepsie wrote: »

Any prospect of Quintana tapping up Pantano and Henao to come join him and give him two team mates who'd be able to stick with him and push sky a bit more?

Pantano all but confirmed to Trek I think.

Mefistofelino

Any word on where Richie Porte is headed? I think he signed just a 1-year contract with BMC last year.

Wonder if he's heading back to Sky? Some of his riding in the TdF had a slight whiff of "Look, Mr. Brailsford! I'm helping"

Pudsy33

Porte will be staying put I'd imagine. No sense in him going back to Sky to flog himself for Froome.

Mefistofelino

Pudsy33 wrote: »

Porte will be staying put I'd imagine. No sense in him going back to Sky to flog himself for Froome.

I think he had far more solo success with Sky than as a leader with BMC.

godtabh

Mefistofelino wrote: »

I think he had far more solo success with Sky than as a leader with BMC.

He wasnt leader at the start of the Tour. Cost him in the end.

MPFGLB

Richie porte is staying at BMC and as he said at the end of the Tour he wil have a better team next year to have a go at the Tour

Why on earth would he go back to SKY

carltonleon

MPFGLB wrote: »

Richie porte is staying at BMC and as he said at the end of the Tour he wil have a better team next year to have a go at the Tour

Why on earth would he go back to SKY

You mean he wasn't riding for SKY this year ???

MPFGLB

Ha ha ...I get it

before the Tour maybe you could say he looked like a SKY Dom but by the Mount Ventoux he had changed

Wasn't himself who ran in to the moto and brought Froome down and then he rode passed Froome casual as you like

Riche cut the cord on Mt Ventoux

TheBlaaMan

Some more updates here:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/transfers-the-lay-of-the-land-before-the-window-opens-on-august-1/

Post 1 updated

desertcircus

So Nibali, Visconti and Puccio are the ones expected to go to work for a torturer. I'm impressed with Nibali in particular: I genuinely didn't think an Astana rider who appears to be disliked by a huge swathe of the peloton could actually make himself look worse. It's quite an achievement.

pelevin

desertcircus wrote: »

So Nibali, Visconti and Puccio are the ones expected to go to work for a torturer. I'm impressed with Nibali in particular: I genuinely didn't think an Astana rider who appears to be disliked by a huge swathe of the peloton could actually make himself look worse. It's quite an achievement.

If he'd signed for the Murdochs, would that have been better or worse? Far-right cheerleaders for war & by extension torture, hardcore pornographers - and the sicker areas that easily slides into, their various tabloid exploits, NOTW, etc. Or is it just a personal thing with Nibali for you?

desertcircus

pelevin wrote: »

If he'd signed for the Murdochs, would that have been better or worse? Far-right cheerleaders for war & by extension torture, hardcore pornographers - and the sicker areas that easily slides into, their various tabloid exploits, NOTW, etc. Or is it just a personal thing with Nibali for you?

There's a difference between Rupert Murdoch (awful politics, not exactly hugely worried about human rights abuses) and Sheikh Nasser (has been credibly accused of personally torturing people following the pro-democracy protests in Bahrain). I dislike Murdoch deeply, but Nasser is in a different league. Would you go to work and sit beside a boss you were pretty certain had personally tortured people?

pelevin

desertcircus wrote: »

There's a difference between Rupert Murdoch (awful politics, not exactly hugely worried about human rights abuses) and Sheikh Nasser (has been credibly accused of personally torturing people following the pro-democracy protests in Bahrain). I dislike Murdoch deeply, but Nasser is in a different league. Would you go to work and sit beside a boss you were pretty certain had personally tortured people?

I don't see it as a different league at all. If there is a political group looking to start a war & torture people - as for instance the neo-cons were - and there is a huge media element enthusiastically furthering that process, I regard them as inextricably linked.
Talking about someone being in a different league doesn't really cut it for me - it's very much the same league, and actually in terms of real impact & power, it's the Murdochs with their global media empire directly tapping into huge numbers' consciousnesses that imo are of a different league in terms of the scale of damage they can do. Not that that in any way makes someone else any cleaner by comparison.

desertcircus

pelevin wrote: »

I don't see it as a different league at all. If there is a political group looking to start a war & torture people - as for instance the neo-cons were - and there is a huge media element enthusiastically furthering that process, I regard them as inextricably linked.
Talking about someone being in a different league doesn't really cut it for me - it's very much the same league, and actually in terms of real impact & power, it's the Murdochs with their global media empire directly tapping into huge numbers' consciousnesses that imo are of a different league in terms of the scale of damage they can do. Not that that in any way makes someone else any cleaner by comparison.

There is a colossal difference between being indifferent to the use of torture and personally torturing someone, not least because a world in which everyone is merely indifferent to its use is a world where nobody actually uses it. Without people willing to commit acts of torture, that indifference does nothing; it takes a willing torturer to cross the line into human rights abuse.

pelevin

desertcircus wrote: »

There is a colossal difference between being indifferent to the use of torture and personally torturing someone, not least because a world in which everyone is merely indifferent to its use is a world where nobody actually uses it. Without people willing to commit acts of torture, that indifference does nothing; it takes a willing torturer to cross the line into human rights abuse.

I think that's willful naivety and ignorance. The propagandist element of a murderous regime is a seamless part of the whole, just as Goebbels wasn't 'indifferent' to or distinct from the actual guys doing the abusing. We're not talking about indifference, we're talking about cheerleaders for war & all the accompanying hells war brings about. And those neo-cons were btw formulating programs for such wars around the world years before 911 so there was nothing retaliatory about this stuff. How can someone otoh be a propagandist for war, & yet count as almost innocently indifferent? And Fox in the US is of level of far-rightedness that goes very far right, nothing mild about their propagandising.

I do sadly realise we've gone a little off the track of World Tour transfer rumours.

desertcircus

pelevin wrote: »

I think that's willful naivety and ignorance. The propagandist element of a murderous regime is a seamless part of the whole, just as Goebbels wasn't 'indifferent' to actual guys doing the abusing. We're not talking about indifference, we're talking about cheerleaders for war & all the accompanying hells war brings about. And those neo-cons were btw formulating programs for such wars around the world years before 911.

That is a remarkably spectacular Godwin for a debate about the ethics of funding cycling teams. "Propagandist element of a murderous regime"? Goebbels? We're talking about a cycling team which is funded in the main by sponsorship from a TV company which is 40% owned by a publicly-traded company which in turn is 40% owned by a family headed by a man who has shown little interest in defending civil and human rights, versus a cycling team which will be funded in the main by a man who beats detainees with a length of garden hose for the crime of wanting a less awful government. One of these things is not like the other, and wildly overstating the case against Team Sky does nothing to change that.

That said, this is probably neither here nor there for a thread about cycling transfers. I don't like Sheikh Nasser, and I'll be deliberately booing any riders on his team and avoiding buying anything made by the team's sponsors. Let's leave it there.

godtabh

So any cycling news?

Brian?

Matthews is leaving Orica? That's a strange one.

MPFGLB

Brian? wrote: »

Matthews is leaving Orica? That's a strange one.

Been on the cards for ages...he can't stand Gerrans and visa versa
Seemingly Orica keeping Gerrans and even transitioning him to a DS

I suppose you could say Orica are fast becoming a GT team now with Chaves & two Yeates

Need to buy mountian doms I suppose

godtabh

MPFGLB wrote: »

Been on the cards for ages...he can't stand Gerrans and visa versa
Seemingly Orica keeping Gerrans and even transitioning him to a DS

I suppose you could say Orica are fast becoming a GT team now with Chaves & two Yeates

Need to buy mountian doms I suppose

Never heard that before.

pelevin

desertcircus wrote: »

That is a remarkably spectacular Godwin for a debate about the ethics of funding cycling teams. "Propagandist element of a murderous regime"? Goebbels? We're talking about a cycling team which is funded in the main by sponsorship from a TV company which is 40% owned by a publicly-traded company which in turn is 40% owned by a family headed by a man who has shown little interest in defending civil and human rights, versus a cycling team which will be funded in the main by a man who beats detainees with a length of garden hose for the crime of wanting a less awful government. One of these things is not like the other, and wildly overstating the case against Team Sky does nothing to change that.

That said, this is probably neither here nor there for a thread about cycling transfers. I don't like Sheikh Nasser, and I'll be deliberately booing any riders on his team and avoiding buying anything made by the team's sponsors. Let's leave it there.

It's not remotely a Godwin or cheap wilful brining up of the Nazis to further an argument because since the most famous and virtually only famous political propagandist ever is undoubtedly Goebbels, there wasn't much point referring to any other one in relation to the point at hand. The Murdochs' actions as modern propagandists are reasonably placed within that lineage of the mass-media as mouthpieces & cheerleaders for vicious political elements.

I neither like this line of talk in a cycling thread but felt it an entirely apporopriate response unless we're just happy to be western head-in-the-sand gutless hypocrites. I'm sure I won't be wearing this Bahrain cycling kit the same as there's no way I'd buy Sky kit.

To add, I'd be happy enough for a mod to delete all our posts from the beginning of this exchange between desertcircus & myself.

pelevin

The Yates brothers could be the new Williams sisters.

MPFGLB

pelevin wrote: »

The Yates brothers could be the new Williams sisters.

Are you sure you donlt mean the new Beverly sisters ...They do have high voices

I think they are great but the Peloton (past & present) is littered with examples of riders who were 4th in the Tour and never got higher

pelevin

MPFGLB wrote: »

Are you sure you donlt mean the new Beverly sisters ...They do have high voices

I think they are great but the Peloton (past & present) is littered with examples of riders who were 4th in the Tour and never got higher

There does seem to have been quite a few expecting such a career trajectory for them though but as you say, wait & see. Going to Orica was definitely a wise move with the freedom to progress in their own manner & not be tied to domestique duties to bigger name GC riders. That in itself could be a fine learning curve too though.

Pudsy33

Brian? wrote: »

Matthews is leaving Orica? That's a strange one.

Him and Gerrans had a falling out and it seems to have split the team. I heard he was off to Giant.

gordongekko

One of those Yeats is a convicted doper. So I take their progress with a pinch of salt.

godtabh

Pudsy33 wrote: »

Him and Gerrans had a falling out and it seems to have split the team. I heard he was off to Giant.

any idea bout what?

Pudsy33

godtabh wrote: »

any idea bout what?

I seem to recall it was to do with Matthews refusing to work for Gerrans in a race last year. It may have been the worlds but I'm not 100%. By all accounts he's tough to get on with.

gordongekko

Pudsy33 wrote: »

I seem to recall it was to do with Matthews refusing to work for Gerrans in a race last year. It may have been the worlds but I'm not 100%. By all accounts he's tough to get on with.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/gerrans-calls-on-orica-greenedge-management-to-call-shots-in-rift-with-matthews/

MPFGLB

Pudsy33 wrote: »

I seem to recall it was to do with Matthews refusing to work for Gerrans in a race last year. It may have been the worlds but I'm not 100%. By all accounts he's tough to get on with.

i don't like Matthews at all...of coure he and Gerrans are going for the same races and both ambitious but the World RR last year was a farce for the Aussie team

and again in the Ardennes with both in top 10 but neither working for the other

Happens all the time in teams where there are 2 similiar top riders ...I believe GVA & Gilbert don't get on...Aru & Nibali , etc

But at Orica it is toxic and caused major division

pelevin

gordongekko wrote: »

One of those Yeats is a convicted doper. So I take their progress with a pinch of salt.

W.B. or Jack?

pelevin

MPFGLB wrote: »

i don't like Matthews at all...of coure he and Gerrans are going for the same races and both ambitious but the World RR last year was a farce for the Aussie team

and again in the Ardennes with both in top 10 but neither working for the other

Happens all the time in teams where there are 2 similiar top riders ...I believe GVA & Gilbert don't get on...Aru & Nibali , etc

But at Orica it is toxic and caused major division

Maybe if I actually knew him I'd think he's fine but at a distance Matthews doesn't come across to me as the most appealing character.