Rumours about Jumbo-Visma & Soudal - Quick Step: Possible mega-merger keeps cycling world on tenterhooks

New mega team in cycling? Speculation is rife

Something is up. And it's something big. Since the end of the European Championships, the cycling world has been speculating about the merger of two of its most famous teams. A report from the Dutch cycling portal Wielerflits spoke of a merger between Jumbo-Visma and Soudal - Quick Step in the coming winter. Several unnamed sources are said to have confirmed this.

Accordingly, Visma - Soudal or Soudal - Visma would be the new name of the team, which would take over the leadership of the current Jumbo-Visma team in team manager Richard Plugge and sports director Merijn Zeeman. Patrick Lefevere, for years the figurehead and boss of Soudal - Quick Step, would step down from the operational side of the business and take on a supervisory role on the board of the new construct.

Thanks to the merger of the two major sponsors, the new team could move into regions in terms of budget that otherwise only Ineos Grenadiers can reach. With a rumoured 50 million euros, the British team is currently the ultimate. With a safety margin of around ten million euros, UAE Team Emirates presumably takes second place.

Talks between Jumbo and the Czech owner of Soudal - Quick Step, multimillionaire Zdenek Bakala, are said to have been going on since July. According to Wielerflits, Ineos boss Jim Ratcliffe had already been dredging up Soudal - Quick Step at that time. When Plugge got wind of this, he is said to have adapted the idea for himself - and apparently had more success than billionaire Ratcliffe.

What are the arguments in favour of the merger between Jumbo and Soudal, and what are the arguments against it?

Officially, none of the parties involved want to talk about the potential deal. And in the light of day, there are numerous points that would speak against these plans.

Back in spring, Dutch supermarket chain Jumbo announced that it would be ending its sponsorship of the cycling team, but not until the end of 2024. Just a few weeks later, a new sponsor was introduced in the form of cryptocurrency trader Coinmerce, but it will probably not be in the front row after all. Instead, Saudi Arabia positioned itself to become the third Gulf state after the United Arab Emirates (UAE Team Emirates) and Bahrain (Bahrain-Victorious) to invest even more heavily in cycling. The Jayco-AlUla team is already backed by the country's tourism authority.

Are US tech giants Amazon or Apple getting involved?

New sponsors could also come from the USA. Dutch marketer Chris Woerts said on the television programme Vandaag Inside that Amazon is to join the new merger team as a sponsor. However, as Wielerflits and the Escape Collective portal reported on Thursday evening, he will not be the main sponsor but only a co-sponsor. According to Woerts, the US tech giant will contribute 15 million euros and thus cover a large part of the 25 million euro gap left by Jumbo's exit. Escape Collective speculates that a further €10 million could come from a possible transfer fee for Primoz Roglic.

At the time, Richard Plugge was open to investors from all over the world. The large American market was also interesting - before Jumbo, Belkin, a US tech company, was briefly the eponymous sponsor of the team - and the fact that Sepp Kuss, an American, recently won the Vuelta, is unlikely to have harmed overseas interest in cycling. So it seems only fitting that Apple boss Tim Cook has just visited Europe and, as a "lifelong cycling fan", also visited the Jumbo-Visma team and Plugge. The official reason was an app for cyclists. And it may well sell well in Europe. Just like Apple Glasses, by the way, which are set to revolutionise the eyewear market with AR technology ("augmented reality") in the near future.

So if Plugge has two of the world's top-selling companies on the hook in Amazon and/or Apple, why does he need Soudal? In addition to the undisputed financial benefits of merging the two teams, the merger would also bring with it all kinds of problems.

On the one hand, there is the personnel situation. Not only would all kinds of staff - mechanics, physiotherapists, etc. - fall victim to the merger. - but also numerous riders. Soudal still has 23 professionals under contract for 2024, Jumbo 27, and both teams have already signed new riders, not only from their own Develpoment teams, but also well-known professionals from other teams. Soudal, for example, has signed Mikel Landa from Bahrain-Victorious, Jumbo Matteo Jorgenson from Movistar. According to the UCI statutes, however, a World Team may have a maximum of 30 riders under contract.

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Too many drivers under contract

This means that if the two teams were to merge, 20 riders with a valid contract for 2024 would have to change employers. These would include not only helpers, but probably also top stars. Jonas Vingegaard, Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel in one team? As all three have the ambition to win the Tour de France, this is unlikely to be compatible. Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) took a similar approach in his latest podcast 'Watts Occuring'. "Remco hates Jumbo and Jumbo hates Remco," he said there, probably not entirely without a true background. When the Welshman realised that his statement had fallen on fertile ground, he added on X (formerly Twitter) that it was just a joke.

However, part of the problem could perhaps disappear into thin air. As reported by the Global Cycling Network (GCN), Roglic is said to be harbouring thoughts of leaving. The 33-year-old Slovenian was already considered dissatisfied after he was no longer given a chance to win the Tour with Vingegaard at Jumbo and was also not allowed to win this year's Vuelta. From this point of view, it would be a good deal for Plugge: the young high-flyer for the old star who is willing to leave.

Incidentally, Ineos and Ratcliffe are rumoured to be Roglic's first suitors. The latter had apparently previously not only cut his teeth on the entire Soudal team, but also on a solo commitment from Evenepoel. "I know that Jim Ratcliffe has a lot of money, but he can't buy the whole world," team boss Lefevere told GCN in July regarding the advances towards Evenepoel. However, it is quite possible that this also meant the purchase of the entire team.

According to media reports, Plugge is already in talks with the UCI

However, the day after the rumours emerged, Lefevere also put a stop to any further buying intentions in an internal team statement, which GCN is said to have received - at least for the time being. He did confirm contact with other teams: "There have been ongoing discussions with various parties in recent months because I was open to talking to anyone who felt they could invest in our team and help us improve and develop. That was never a secret," said the Belgian, who apologised for any uncertainties that may have arisen as a result. However, he also wrote: "Contrary to reports, there are no concrete projects and plans at this time."

A report in the Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws (HLN) on Thursday takes a different view. According to the report, Plugge has already spoken to the president of the UCI, David Lapartient, and explained the merger plans. According to HLN, Plugge has also already spoken to Specialized - the bike manufacturer of the Soudal team. Jumbo-Visma has so far been riding Cervelo bikes. Here, too, one of the two contracts would have to be broken, which also applies to other parts of the equipment.

What will become of Ineos and Movistar?

If these two teams do indeed merge, there will be at least one loser. And that loser is Ineos Grenadiers. This is because the transfer policy to date indicates that the British team has been counting on a merger with another team. So far, Ineos has not signed a single rider, but 15 have left. This means that for 2024 only 15 drivers under contract. There are hardly any riders left on the market who would fulfil the team's requirements. Or does team manager David Brailsford already have the promises of the riders who would be on the road with a Visma-Soudal merger?

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The situation at Movistar is even more extreme. The Spaniards have not yet signed a rider either, but have already announced 23 departures and thus Only seven drivers left in the 2024 squad. Perhaps the Spaniards, although they have not played a role in the rumour mill so far, are one of the decisive pieces of the puzzle in the big puzzle surrounding the future reorganisation of the World Tour. Eusebio Unzue's long-established team, whose roots can be traced back to 1980, had already failed to find a co-sponsor last year. In 2021, parent company Telefonica had extended its contract with the team until 2023, and since then the sea has been calm. Only the German helmet manufacturer Abus extended its commitment to the Spanish team last year until 2025.

Who takes over the World Tour licence(s)?

At least one World Team appears to be on the brink of cancellation. This would also free up at least one World Tour licence for the next few years. However, the UCI is probably keen to keep 18 teams in cycling's premier league. The list of interested parties is long. In Switzerland, two young teams are aiming for promotion. However, Tudor Pro Cycling with owner Fabian Cancellara only made the step into the Pro Tour, the second division, this year, while Douglas Ryder's Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, also in the Pro Tour, was only launched this season. Neither of them are quite ready yet.

Then there are last year's relegated teams, Lotto-Dstny and Israel - Premier Tech. While Lotto has more or less come to terms with the situation and is now focussing heavily on youth in order to be promoted again in 2026, Israel - especially co-owner Sylvan Adams - would have preferred to avoid relegation by hook or by crook. A direct promotion - which is only possible every three years in sporting terms - would be a huge satisfaction for the team.

Uno-X and Israel - PremierTech with the greatest interest

And then there are the Norwegians from Uno-X, who also want to get into the World Tour as quickly as possible and would actually like to be there already. "We already applied to the UCI last year," team boss Jens Haugland told Wielerflits. "The only reason we didn't get a licence is that we didn't collect enough UCI points in 2020, 2021 and 2022 and therefore didn't meet the sporting criterion."

However, there is one catch: "We would only take over the licence without any obligations. So no paying agent that already has a structure of drivers and employees," said Haugland for his team, but this should also apply to all other Pro Teams. However, the takeover of the so-called 'paying agent', i.e. the purchase of the current licence holder, the operating company with all current contracts, is only one of two options for obtaining the licence. The second - and more likely, unless an investor appears out of nowhere - is the dissolution of this 'paying agent'. The UCI could then award a new licence.