Two weeks ago a bomb fell in the peloton when the rumor of a merger between the two top teams turned out not to be a rumor. Team Jumbo – Visma and Soudal – Quick Step had signed a letter of intent for a merger in the summer.
Jumbo-Visma knew that Jumbo would stop after 2024 and was looking for sponsorship money. Dutch billionaire Robert van de Wallen, who sits on the Supervisory Board of Jumbo-Visma, had several conversations with Bakala in the summer, and at the end team managers Richard Plugge and Patrick Lefevere were also present.
Many cycling followers, but also riders and staff, fell out of the sky. Uncertainty reigned, the future of many was at stake. Because a team may only have 30 riders. Who could stay, who had to leave?
What was the human toll? Apart from the legal and sporting aspects. Because that exercise had not yet been done, Lefevere said last weekend. There were more questions than answers for two weeks. October 18 was also the deadline for the UCI.
But a whole bunch of questions can now probably be thrown in the trash, because without a merger everything will remain more or less the same.
Jumbo-Visma has now joined forces with the American e-commerce company Amazon, a global player, although it is not immediately clear what the contribution will be.
Lefevere and Bakala would complete their project together until 2025, we heard from a good source, although the latter would like to phase out. Additional investments to strengthen the round center around Remco Evenepoel no longer seem possible.
So the question is how Evenepoel will respond to all this.
2023-10-06 12:09:03
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