Jumbo-Visma and Soudal-QuickStep are currently in discussions about forming a potential merger of the two WorldTour teams as soon as 2024, according to an exclusive report in Wielerflits on Sunday.
The report suggests that Jumbo-Visma’s managing director Richard Plugge would become the CEO of the new programme, Jumbo-Vsima’s sports director Merijn Zeeman would become the new team’s head coach, and Soudal-QuickStep’s CEO Patrick Lefevere would become a member of the new team’s Supervisory Board.
It also means that any potential merger could see Remco Evenepoel, Primož Roglič , Wout van Aert, and Jonas Vingegaard become teammates, leading a proposed new ‘super team’.
In addition, the report suggests that any discussions around the potential merger of Jumbo-Visma and Soudal-QuickStep could have begun as early as last summer and that the management at Jumbo-Visma approached Soudal-QuickStep owner Zdenek Bakala, which led to the two parties meeting for further discussions in Geneva.
The report also states that the idea of a potential merger was supported by title sponsors Soudal and Visma. If the merger of the two teams is confirmed, the new programme would likely be registered with the UCI as either Visma-Soudal or Soudal-Visma.
Dutch supermarket chain Jumbo confirmed in June that it is set to end its co-title sponsorship of Jumbo-Visma after the 2024 season, if not earlier, and Plugge has been working to find a major international sponsors to replace the it.
It is unclear how a potential merger would affect the sponsors and staff, and the riders of each team that are under multi-year contracts. Jumbo-Visma and Soudal-QuickStep currently have a roster of 29 riders each.
Other questions remain concerning the two team’s respective women’s programmes. Jumbo-Visma’s women’s team is currently led by Marianne Vos.
AG Insurance-Soudal-QuickStep has become a three-tier women’s programme that includes an under-19 team, an under-23 team and a Continental team that has applied for a Women’s WorldTeam licence in 2024.
A representative of Jumbo-Visma told Cyclingnews, “I don’t expect much is going to happen with our women’s team. For the rest, we never comment on rumours.”
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