In a transfer market dictated by agents as much as results and budgets, Patrick Lefevere finds himself at the centre of several of the key potential transfer sagas of the summer.
Lefevere’s position as transfer kingpin isn’t just born from chance, however, and the Etixx-QuickStep manager is keeping is cards close to his chest as he negotiations with Mark Cavendish, Rigoberto Uran, Tom Boonen and MichaÅ‚ Kwiatkowski about renewing their contracts. The world champion is rumoured to have already signed for Team Sky, although he has denied this to his teammates, while Lefevere has been linked with a number of riders, including Mikel Landa, Richie Porte and Ryder Hesjedal.
I’m more or less where I want to be in terms of my plans,” Lefevere told Cyclingnews from his office in Belgium.
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“However, I have the impression, and I don’t think that I’m alone, that agents are calling me a lot and that means the market isn’t moving that quickly. I don’t think many teams are signing riders at the moment. Normally we’re paying what the market asks so if you saw in the past when Sky came into cycling the prices went up, but now the market is standing still.”
There are a number of factors at play within the current market. Peter Sagan’s reported salary of 4 million Euro is seen as a benchmark by many of his rivals, and although the fee is huge, athletes and more importantly their agents, are using the example to drive up their prices.
Another factor is that no new WorldTour team is – at this stage – coming onto the scene for 2016, and team are looking to reduce roster size for 2017 if the UCI’s new regulations comes into place. On top of that BMC are reportedly only able to offer one-year deals, a sticking point when it comes to attracting riders to one of the best payers in the peloton. And finally, the big four of Froome, Nibali, Contador and Quintana are all under contract for next year, meaning that bargains are being sought with the likes of Porte, Ryder Hesjedal, Dan Martin and man of the moment Mikel Landa.
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