The transfer window is set to open in just over two months’ time and Dimension Data are already making plans for next season. The next two months will be key for the team as they look to plug the gaps in their Grand Tour line-up for 2017 with the aim of getting an African rider on the podium of a Grand Tour within three years.
The transfer season doesn’t officially open until August 1 but Dimension Data team manager Doug Ryder tells Cyclingnews that he’s already getting a lot of interest from WorldTour riders, particularly since the re-signing of Edvald Boasson Hagen last month. While he doesn’t name names, he believes that there is a nervousness in the peloton with teams such as Tinkoff without a new sponsor and IAM Cycling closing their doors, and that riders and managers are striking while the iron is hot.
“We’ve got so many. I’m amazed at the riders who want to leave some teams that you would think that they’re institutionalised in. Everyone is testing the market and testing the water,” team manager Ryder told Cyclingnews.
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“We are looking for our stage racing team to step up but to bring on a Grand Tour winner is incredibly expensive and those guys are few and far between. Those are the discussions that are going on at the moment - who do we want to look for and who do we want to retain in the team and where should we be going. The Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia will show what gaps we have in stage races of that nature.”
Dimension Data have several riders that will be out of contract at the end of this season, including Tyler Farrar, Theo Bos and a number of their of their African riders. Tour de France stage winner Stephen Cummings, Daniel Teklehaimanot, Serge Pauwels, Merhawi Kudus, Mark Cavendish and Bernhard Eisel are all on the roster for 2017, however, and Ryder is keen to keep the status quo if he can.
“We’ve got lots of riders out of contract but we don’t like making changes, we want to knuckle down and support the guys we’ve got,” he explained. “When we bring riders into the team, we do it for a reason and we want to support them long-term. Many of our African riders are out of contract and we want to bed them down.”
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