Belgian and Dutch media report what will be the cycling news of the year. The Jumbo-Visma and Soudal Quick-Step teams would be about to announce their merger by 2024. From this union a new super team will emerge with enough financial muscle to be on par with INEOS or UAE Emirates.
Talks between both teams began in July and the negotiations are so advanced that the Dutch media WielerFlits takes it for granted and places Richard Plugge as the CEO of the new formation, Merijn Zeeman as head coach and Patrick Lefevere on the Supervisory Board of the equipment.
After a first meeting between Zdenek Bakala, owner of Soudal Quick-Step, with the management of Jumbo-Visma and the approval of the main sponsors of both teams, negotiations could be accelerated for what could be the largest merger of cycling teams. .
There is still a lot of information to be known, such as the name of the team itself, which could be Visma-Soudal or Soudal-Visma, but among the big issues to be resolved I would highlight the future of Remco Evenepoel, who with this change could see his path to the INEOS team paved. despite the interest of his current team that he remain in it.
It also remains to be known the decision to stay or leave of the Jumbo-Visma and Soudal Quick-Step riders, 27 and 23 respectively, as well as the technical partners who will remain, since Jumbo currently competes with Cervelo and SRAM, while the Soudal does it with Specialized and Shimano, for example.
Source: http://www.brujulabike.com