Lotto Soudal
Biggest loss: John Degenkolb
Biggest acquisition: Victor Campenaerts
Two riders in different career trajectories. Lotto gets the one on the up. However, the one on the downward path started out very highly. Degenkolb is a fantastic rider who was never able to return to his former successes in Lotto. Ultimately, no rider should move the needle much and Lotto will still be highly dependent on Caleb Ewan for 2022.
Movistar Team
Biggest loss: Miguel Ángel López
Biggest acquisition: Ivan Sosa
Movistar lost two huge riders in Miguel Ángel López and Marc Soler and replaced them with four good ones in Ivan Sosa, Gorka Izaguirre, Oscar Rodriguez and Alex Aranburu. None of these last four are in Lopez’s league but then again, they didn’t quit a Grand Tour on a whim halfway through a stage so that’s a point in their favor. This is finally Enric Mas’ team which is a huge plus in my mind. Finally, Movistar has a clear leader that the team and the country can rally behind.
I’m also really cheering for Ivan Sosa to finally put all his ability together and consistently be a top climber. He has all the tools. Let’s see if he can put it together. It would be ironic and a excellent for Movistar if a South American rider unlocked his potential with the Spanish team (assuming they don’t mess it up afterwards).
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl
Biggest loss: João Almeida
Biggest acquisition: Mauro Schmid
Let’s get this out of the way: Quick-Step got a few talented youngsters that are unlikely to make an impact in 2022.
Now, João Almeida. Well, the Belgian team accomplished the most difficult of the whole process: identifying and developing a rider. Afterwards they let him go. I don’t know what was the logic behind this decision. Maybe the rider wanted too much money. He certainly didn’t want anything Quick Step couldn’t have given him in sporting terms. And salary-wise I don’t think the team would have had a problem keeping Almeida if they really wanted him.
In my opinion, this was a terrible move by Quick-Step and a terrible offseason given that they were the team that lost the most valuable piece. Now, of course they’ll have a fantastic season in 2022 and beyond. But had they kept João Almeida their future would look even brighter.
Team BikeExchange
Biggest loss: Johan Esteban Chavez
Biggest acquisition: Dylan Groenewegen
With Simon Yates on the roster, it’s smart to bolster the sprinting capabilities of the team, in my opinion. It’s not like Yates needed much help to get to the podium of the Giro. And Esteban Chavez is a pretty well-known commodity. Groenewegen was one of the best sprinters in the world at one point and is still only 28 years old. I think this was a fantastic move by Team BikeExchange especially considering Michael Matthews age and diminishing returns. With all this being said, I do think the Australian team failed Simon Yates. Even though the British rider showed he can get massive results alone, getting one or two riders to support him in the mountains would have been the right thing to do.
Team DSM
Biggest loss: Jai Hindley
Biggest acquisition: John Degenkolb
Well, let’s go straight to the list of riders the Dutch team lost: Jai Hindley, Michael Storer, Marc Hirshi, Tiesj Benoot, among others. I’m going to go ahead and say that Degenkolb doesn’t make up for these massive losses.
Team DSM is among the teams who lost the most talent in the offseason which doesn’t bode well for a team that didn’t have a great 2021.
On the plus side, one of the additions for 2022, is Belgian Henri Vandenabeele, a promising 21 years Belgian from DSM’s development team, that already placed twice in the podium of the under-23 Giro d’Italia. Certainly, a rider to warch.
Team Jumbo-Visma
Biggest loss: Dylan Groenewegen
Biggest acquisition: Rohan Dennis
Jumbo-Visma was very surgical in the transfer market. They lost Tony Martin (retirement), George Bennett, and Dylan Groenewegen. They replaced these riders almost position by position with Rohan Dennis, Tiesj Benoot, and Christophe Laporte. The characteristics aren’t exactly the same. Benoot is more of a classics’ rider and Bennett more of a climber. Laporte isn’t as fast as Groenewegen but is more versatile. And Dennis hasn’t shown to be as gregarious as Tony Martin. In the end though, Jumbo-Visma adequately adapted their team to their objectives while still keeping it incredible strong.
Trek – Segafredo
Biggest loss: Vicenzo Nibali
Biggest acquisition: Markus Hoelgaard
Frankly Trek didn’t lose or gain much during the transfer market. I thought Norwegian Markus Hoelgaard was an interesting pick-up for the American team but he is a 27-year-old rider that has never been in a World Tour team.
UAE Team Emirates
Biggest loss: Alexander Kristoff
Biggest acquisition: João Almeida
With deep pockets comes seemingly unstoppable improvement. After a fantastic season for the Emirati team, they got even better with the additions of George Bennett, Marc Soler, Pascal Ackermann, and, of course, João Almeida. Now the team has a legitimate second option to target stage races and even more domestiques to support Almeida and Pogacar. Ackermann is also an incredible replacement for Kristoff: he is only 27 years of age and has won pretty consistently ever since joining the World Tour.