The news that Remco Evenepoel will break his contract with Soudal-Quickstep for a move to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe confirms rumours that have been circulating for months and ends years of speculation about where one of the sport’s most talented riders will land.
Evenepoel was under contract through the 2026 season with the Belgian outfit, but his agent, father Patrick Evenepoel, had been rumoured to be arranging a move for his son since 2023, when he was said to be in discussions with the Ineos Grenadiers.
With former CEO Patrick Lefevere out of the picture since his retirement, the transfer to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe has gone off with much less vitriol in the press; other mid-contract moves have generated enough controversy that the UCI stepped in last year to add new rules surrounding contract terminations.
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The UCI now requires a review by the UCI Arbitral Board of any termination requests. They have also imposed a minimum six months’ salary compensation for the previous team, and punishments for failing to abide by the rules. Those rules might have prevented the controversy around five other recent contentious mid-contract transfers.
Cyclingnews looks back at five major, recent mid-contract transfers that shook the world of professional cycling.
Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bora-Hansgrohe to Visma-Lease a Bike)
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Before the start of the 2024 season, the first hints came that Cian Uijtdebroeks, who, as a junior, was regarded as the ‘next Remco Evenepoel‘, would no longer be racing with Bora-Hansgrohe after his two neo-pro seasons, despite the fact that his contract was valid through the end of 2024.
Visma-Lease a Bike announced the arrival of the Belgian in December of 2023, but Bora-Hansgrohe quickly disputed the news and the UCI had not approved the deal. The rider’s agents claimed that Uijtdebroeks’ contract had been terminated as of December 1, but Bora-Hansgrohe doubled down, saying they expected him to be racing with them that season.
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Uijtdebroeks was spotted training with Visma in December and then, just before Christmas, Bora-Hansgrohe finally announced they had reached an agreement with the Belgian to terminate their contract.
The contentious episode came with allegations from Uijtdebroeks that he had been bullied by his teammates at the Vuelta a España – the team’s internal investigation found no evidence of any bullying – and complaints about the state of his team-issued equipment after the Chronos des Nations.
The dispute between Bora-Hansgrohe and Visma-Lease a Bike over the transfer of Uijtdebroeks is said to be what inspired the UCI to institute new rules and harsh punishments for illegal transfers. For the 22-year-old, the move did not launch his career as illness and injury have plagued him ever since, leaving his 2022 Tour de l’Avenir victory his only major success so far.
Primož Roglič (Visma-Lease a Bike to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Also in 2023, Visma-Lease a Bike were on the losing end of a mid-contract move to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, with Primož Roglič terminating his contract (through 2025) with the Dutch team.
The arrival of the energy drink maker as a title sponsor gave the team a big budget boost. Roglič had been denied the freedom to try to take the Vuelta a España from Sepp Kuss and faced a future of being a second-tier leader for the Tour de France under Jonas Vingegaard.
Roglič confirmed he would leave Visma after reports that the team were willing to let him move as long as a new team paid out his contract. After rumours of interest from Ineos Grenadiers, Lidl-Trek and Movistar, his signing with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe was final on October 6, 2023.
The transfer was smoother than in the case of Uijtdebroeks, as Visma-Lease a Bike CEO reportedly met with UCI President David Lappartient to avoid any trouble.
Roglič’s move to Red Bull was beneficial for the team in 2024 with a win in the Critérium du Dauphiné and the Vuelta a España, but a crash in that year’s Tour de France kept the Slovenian from contesting the GC, and he dropped out before stage 13.
Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers to Q36.5 Pro Cycling)
(Image credit: Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool)
On the same day that he claimed his second Olympic gold medal in mountain bike cross-country, this time in Paris, the first rumours that Tom Pidcock would leave Ineos emerged.
There was some suggestion that a rift between Pidcock and the team stemmed from how he was portrayed during the Tour de France Netflix series ‘Unchained’, where a scene with then-DS Steve Cummings seemed to show that Pidcock was not on board with the team backing Carlos Rodriguez for the GC.
When Pidcock was removed from the team’s lineup for Il Lombardia, it seemed to be a confirmation of the rumoured departure. However, any deal appeared to have fallen through in early November when Pidcock was present at the team’s gathering with new signings and staff.
A month later, the news came that Pidcock would move to Swiss ProTeam Q36.5, with both sides saying the split was amicable.
Pidcock had a solid first season with Q36.5, winning the AlUla Tour, landing on the podium in Ruta del Sol and taking second to Tadej Pogačar in Strade Bianche. He led the team in their first Grand Tour at the Giro d’Italia, finishing 16th overall, before turning his focus to a few MTB races.
Lorena Wiebes (Parkhotel Valkenburg to Team Sunweb)
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Back in 2019, Lorena Wiebes emerged as the number one rider in the world while racing with the Continental team Parkhotel Valkenburg. With 15 victories that year, it is understandable that other bigger teams would be interested in signing the Dutch rider.
By November, there were reports that Wiebes wanted to leave the team to get stronger support elsewhere, and she had interest from Trek-Segafredo, CCC-Liv and Sunweb, but she also had a contract with the team through the end of 2020.
Unlike her male counterparts, Wiebes tried to leave her team but ran into legal threats from Parkhotel Valkenburg, accusing her of breach of contract in a Dutch lawsuit. Fortunately, the team and Wiebes were able to come to an agreement for a move in the June transfer window.
Wiebes started the season with the team and won the Omloop van het Hageland for them before the COVID-19 pandemic hit and stopped racing altogether. She signed with Team Sunweb (now Picnic-PostNL) in June of 2020 and raced with them through 2022. Wiebes continues to be among the top riders in the world with SD Worx-ProTime.
Wout van Aert (Verandas Willems-Crelan to Jumbo-Visma)
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The messiest and longest-running contract dispute in recent history centres around Belgian star Wout van Aert – and the fallout from his departure from Nick Nuyens’ Continental team Verandas Willems-Crelan continues to this day.
Van Aert had a falling out with Nuyens in September of 2018, and terminated his contract with the team’s ownership over discontent that the team was set to merge with the Dutch team Roompot.
Soon, he was on the cusp of starting his high-level road career with Jumbo-Visma, signing a contract with the WorldTour team for 2020, but joined the team in March of 2019 while at the same time fending off a lawsuit from Nuyens, who was asking for €1.1 million in damages.
At first, a Belgian tribunal ruled that Van Aert was within his rights to terminate his contract with Verandas Willems, with witnesses supporting his accusations that Nuyens had tried to convince his former coach, Niels Albert, to sign an incriminating statement about him.
However, an appeal by Nuyens succeeded in 2021, with the court ordering Van Aert to pay €662,041.32 – the amount the team had paid him before his departure. Van Aert paid, but that wasn’t enough for Nuyens, who is still trying to appeal for the full €1.1 million.
None of this stopped Van Aert from being one of the most successful riders in the world with 10 Tour de France stage wins, victories in Milan-San Remo, Strade Bianche, Gent-Wevelgem and last months final Tour de France stage on the Champs Elysees.