The transfer market is no longer booming with talent at this time of year but there are still some interesting transfers that can be worked on over the coming days and weeks, and one such potential move could be that of Intermarché – Wanty‘s Gerben Thijssen who is a target for Alpecin-Deceuninck and could become yet another option for the Belgian team to contest sprints with.
As had been the case with Jakub Mareczko in the past, the team wouldn’t be signing a strong sprinter for the first time whilst having both Jasper Philipsen and Kaden Groves under contract. Besides other impressive victories and results, the duo collaborated perfectly to win the first stage of this year’s Tour de France whilst Groves himself took a solo win from the breakaway on stage 20. The team has on occasion also backed up Mathieu van der Poel, whilst it has Simon Dehairs currently signed for next season also as an option. However officially, only 18 names are confirmed for 2026 in the Belgian team, which leaves a lot of room for maneuver.
According to Het Laatste Nieuws some of this room may be an effort to try and bring in new names to the team in which the 27-year old is included. Thijssen is a winner in the past of many Belgian semi-classics such as the Gooikse Pijl, GP Jean-Pierre Monseré, Ronde van Limburg and the Bredene Koksijde Classic, whilst also having in his palmarès stage wins at the Tour de Pologne and Volta ao Algarve.
This season hasn’t been the easiest for Thijssen who’s lacked results throughout the spring and was rather absent in his entire Giro d’Italia run, a and it didn’t seem to improve until September where he has been on the Top 5 of a few criteriums, Gooikse Pijl and Omloop van het Houtland. At the Tour of Holland he has his final chance this year to prove his worth or a comeback to strong form, with several sprint opportunities. With Intermarché – Wanty merging with the Lotto team, it leaves many riders from both teams in a difficult position where moving elsewhere becomes very realistic.