"Buying the great truths from elsewhere else is not my style": Jurgen Foré reacts to large staff shuffle at rival teams

It's anything but usual to witness major shuffles on a WorldTour level mid-season, but three of the world's top teams - Visma | Lease a Bike, Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe and Lidl-Trek made sure of serious ruccus this week when it became public that all three structures will see significant changes to their performance staff half-way through run-up to the Tour de France.

It's all started at the beginning of this year with a sudden departure of successful Visma coach of Jonas Vingegaard, Tim Heemskerk, who later joined the performance team of Red Bull. The shuffle continues as Red Bull's coach of Remco Evenepoel, Dan Lorang, will be appointed Head of Performance at Lidl-Trek after this Tour.

Lidl-Trek has been very active on the staff market in any case with the acquisitions of Grischa Niermann (new general manager) and nutrition expert Martijn Redegeld, a former Visma employee who had a brief stint at football club Ajax Amsterdam, following a similar path as his former boss Merijn Zeeman, who joined AZ Alkmaar instead.

To wrap things up (for the moment), Lidl-Trek's current CEO Luca Guercilena will step down to free his position for Andy Schleck. Visma has also prepared for Niermann's departure with the promotion of Marc Reef to Head of Racing role. And how do rival teams, specifically Soudal - Quick-Step's CEO Jurgen Foré, view this game of musical chairs?

It is no secret that Lidl-Trek and Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe both seek to stand on top of the cycling world within foreseeable future, but currently lack that one poster rider to put them on level with UAE or Visma. But with the biggest stars all under long contracts, they at the very least use their resources for when that one super star emerges for either team. Red Bull hope Quick-Step's former face Remco Evenepoel will become just that for the German team.

On the contrary, Soudal - Quick-Step don't boast such megalomaniacal ambitions. Team CEO Jurgen Foré prefers to build a team built on shared bonds and long-term commitment. After all, team doctor Yvan Vanmol has been involved with the team since its inception. Sporting director Wilfried Peeters is entering his 25th year of service, and his DS colleagues Tom Steels, Geert Van Bondt, and Davide Bramati have also been with the team for ages.

"It is important to treat these people with great respect," Foré tells WielerFlits. "But also to bring in new, young, and complementary people in a timely manner."

Without Evenepoel, the Wolfpack re-discovered its joy of past; the Classics and sprints. Back on the topic of staff policy, Foré highlights that he doesn't really fancy "shopping" at competition:

"We sometimes look beyond cycling rather than at the competition. I prefer to look at ourselves and what we can build ourselves, rather than thinking that I have to buy the great truths from somewhere else. That is less my style."

Because, in the end, there's not a whole lot to gain in terms of secret intelligence. "I doubt that [there is any secrets to poach]. I think we are all looking to get the best out of riders. It must primarily be a good collaboration between the athlete and the performance staff. If you have a lot of money, you can undoubtedly buy a strong core of riders faster, but the craft and the will to build a good performance staff is about more than just money," concludes the team manager.