During a chat for the “Watts Occuring” podcast, last Tuesday (26), Geraint Thomas expressed surprise about the possibility of a merger between Jumbo-Visma and Soudal Quick-Step, stating that for this to happen several items need to be modified.
The cyclist reported that before being asked about the speculations that came to light since Sunday (24), by news from WielerFlits, he had no idea what was happening. Sharing the same thought, the podcast presenter and friend of the athlete, Luke Rowe, also expressed surprise.
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“I had no idea until you told me just before you came. The only thing I would say is that Remco hates Jumbo, and Jumbo hates Remco, so this isn’t going to work, is it? Unless they do different programs”, explained Geraint Thomas about the rumored situation.
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The athlete continued to express doubts: “I’m not trying to spread rumors or anything, I’m just saying. For me, the only thing I would say is why would jumbo want to do that? They just won three Grand Tours.” Luke Rowe responded by explaining that Jumbo-Visma was losing its main sponsor and that the possibility of the merger came at the right time.
However, Geraint Thomas was unable to accept the change. “How can you not get another sponsor if you did what you just did, like you won the Tour de France the last two years, you just dominated last season, you have the greatest riders, Van Aert by himself is huge “, he said.
Apparently, the negotiation for the merger of the teams would have been discussed at the beginning of the summer of this year, in the middle of the Tour de France, when one of the Jumbo-Visma managers questioned Zdenek Bakala, owner of Soudal-QuickStep. The conversation went ahead with a large meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.
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