
The Tour de France has always been an important crossroads for the cycling transfer market: it's the world's most important race, which no one wants to miss, and it precedes by a few days the fateful date of August 1st, when jersey changes for the next season can be officially announced.
There are two movements that are influencing the market these days: the first is Remco Evenepoel's move to Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe with its consequent technical revolution in the German team, and the other is the merger between Intermarché and Lotto, for which work is still ongoing.
But let's proceed in order: for Evenepoel's transfer to Red Bull, only the official announcement is practically missing, and with him Mattia Cattaneo will also join the German team, preparing to sign a three-year contract. After the departure of Rolf Aldag and the arrival of former Belgian national coach Sven Vanthourenhout, who will start his work already on August 1st, Enrico Gasparotto is also preparing to leave the German team to join Movistar.
We were saying about the Intermarché-Lotto agreement: work is ongoing to have the corporate management handled by Lotto and the technical management by Intermarché. This is not a minor detail, because the future of Biniam Girmay depends on this decision. The Eritrean, green jersey at the 2024 Tour, would like to continue working with the technical staff that has followed him so far, otherwise he could become one of the most prized pieces in the cycling transfer market.
The Jayco AlUla is very active these days, with about ten riders expiring their contracts and working on a rejuvenation and strengthening plan: leaving is Dutch sprinter Dylan Groenewegen, who could join the ambitious Unibet Tietema Rockets, while Filippo Zana is very close to an agreement with Ineos Grenadiers.
The Australian team is looking closely at Italian riders, and on Brent Copeland's notebook are the names of Alessandro Covi from UAE, Andrea Vendrame from Decathlon, and Italian champion Filippo Conca, whose signing could be announced as soon as the market opens.
In addition to Zana, Ineos Grenadiers is tracking Kevin Vauquelin, the 24-year-old Frenchman from Arkea, who finished the Tour in seventh place.
Very active is Decathlon, which has changed ownership and is preparing to climb to the top of world rankings: from Visma Lease a Bike could come sprinter Olav Kooij and a valuable classics hunter like Tiesj Benoot, while from Lidl Trek, Dutch time trial champion Daan Hoole, winner of a stage at this year's Giro d'Italia, is reported to be approaching.
Ben Healy is about to sign a long contract renewal - until 2029 - with EF Education Easypost, and a renewal is also coming for Marco Frigo, destined to wear the Israel Premier Tech jersey for two more seasons.