LAURENS TEN DAM
Laurens casts his eye over cycling’s transfer season
Iam currently in hibernation mode. Whereas in a normal year I would open my laptop early in the mornings to see who won the stage in the Tour Down Under, nowadays I sleep in till my alarm rings. My cycling season clock is off. One thing which awakens my biological clock is the pictures that come in from the team camps in December. For obvious reasons, those camps didn’t happen this year. I love the media coverage from those camps a lot. Or, the non-coverage. The teams use that camp as a first gettogether. They measure clothes, bikes and discuss each rider’s race programme. But as the riders’ contracts start on January 1 and these camps happen in December, new recruits are still training in their old kit with their new team members. Big star and Ag2r signing Greg Van Avermaet would still rock his CCC kit in between a tonne of Ag2r riders. In his case he would be wearing a kit from a team that’s already folded, which makes it even more strange. Imagine this in football: a Liverpool player still training in his Chelsea kit. Unthinkable, but in cycling it is possible while there is an easy solution - let those contracts start on December 1.
This year’s transfer season was far from conservative. It started slow and lasted long. Did I talk about my clock yet? It left a lot of riders out in the dark before they signed their contracts. I felt sorry for all those guys training and racing in October, November and even December, not knowing if they would race and be paid in January. It was a buyers’ market and team managers could wait longer than ever to sign the last spots in the team.
Two transfers stood out for me. First of all, Mark Cavendish is moving back to Patrick Lefevere and his Wolfpack. This might not be the most important transfer in the big WorldTour picture but I felt emotionally attached to this. I have known this tiny pitbull since he entered the scene in 2006. He is a legend and deserves a farewell on his terms. My heart cracked when I saw his emotional outburst after Gent-Wevelgem last year, which could have been his last race if he didn’t find a team. I had my fingers crossed for Patrick Lefevere to let his heart speak and sign Cav. In my opinion, he joined the right team and he might surprise some people this year.
And then just recently, Marc Hirschi left Team DSM for UAE Team Emirates. This is a kind of transfer rarely seen in the cycling world but almost equal to a football transfer. A team buys a rider who is still under contract. My guess is that UAE paid Team DSM to release their biggest talent. Until now it has just been Gianni Savio and his small Androni team who made some kind of business out of this type of transfer, with South American riders. This type of buyout has happened to Iwan Spekenbrink and his teams three times in the last two seasons. Iwan is the first to release his riders when they are unhappy with the team. He seems to know an unhappy rider is a slow rider and counts his pennies. I am curious if we are looking at a pattern here or if it is just a coincidence.
In the meantime, I am searching for those Team DSM pictures of Marc Hirschi. I know they exist - Marc shining in the kit he’ll never race in.
Laurens ten Dam is an ex pro cyclist. He lives by his motto, ‘live slow, ride fast’, while doing podcasts, organising gravel events and running a coffee brand and clothing label. 2021 goals? Back to gravel racing!
“My heart cracked when I saw Cav’s emotional outburst after Gent-Wevelgem last year, which could have been his last race if he didn’t find a team. I had my fingers crossed for Patrick Lefevere to sign him”