Wout Poels to Bahrain-Merida ranks in the top 2020 WorldTour transfers so far
Quintana, Landa, Dumoulin, Carapaz and Nibali all on the move for 2020
After cancelling his announcement Tuesday, Ineos’s Dutch mountains domestique Wout Poels announced Wednesday that he has signed a two-year deal with Bahrain-Merida. The 31-year-old rider, who has come in the top-10 of a Grand Tour once in 14 tries, will be pursuing his own interests in at least one Grand Tour.
What might Mikel Landa (Movistar > Bahrain-Merida) make of this? He was teammates with Poels at Sky for a couple of years, but surely FreeLanda wanted to be free of other riders with Grand Tour aspirations.
Vincenzo Nibali‘s transfer (Bahrain-Merida > Trek-Segafredo) made room for Landa. Nibali’s days of winning Grand Tours are likely over, but a runner-up spot at the Giro showed he can still be a factor. Kenny Ellisonde (Ineos > Trek-Segafredo) is the second Ineos domestique to sign with someone else in the past three days.
Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb > Jumbo-Visma) strengthens the Dutch Bees, which has usurped Movistar’s role as Ineos’ main Grand Tour challenger. Dumoulin is not the only proven Grand Tour winner on the move: Giro champ Richard Carapaz (Movistar > Ineos) gives Ineos four Grand Tour winners. Four.
Three notable riders will be swapping WorldTour teams for (at the moment) Pro Continental squads. Nairo Quintana (Movistar > Arkea-Samsic) ensures that his new outfit gets a wild card at the Tour de France. Dan Martin (UAE-Emirates > Israel Cycling Academy) has switched to a team that might be merging with a WorldTour squad soon. Sprinting powerhouse Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-Quick Step > Cofidis) must expect Cofidis to step up a level next season.
Movistar may have been depleted by Landa, Carapaz and Quintana’s exits, but Enric Mas (Deceuninck-Quick Step > Movistar) hopes to return to the lofty heights of second place in the Vuelta a España at his new home.
More one-day race aces besides Viviani are on the move. Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott > CCC) joins Greg Van Avermaet and new fellows Ilnur Zakarin and Fausto Masnada on the “Polish Carrots”. Tiejs Benoot makes room at Lotto-Soudal (Lotto-Soudal > Sunweb) for Philippe Gilbert (Deceuninck-Quick Step > Lotto-Soudal) and John Degenkolb (Sunweb > Lotto-Soudal).
All three Canadians in the WorldTour–Michael Woods, Antoine Duchesne and Hugo Houle–have contracts with their teams for 2020. Nick Zukowsky is the only Canadian with a contract on a Pro Continental team for next year; he’s signed with Rally.
