"I heard Red Bull paid Soudal 7 million": Johan Bruyneel calls Remco Evenepoel's expensive transfer a "big gamble"
Cycling
The transfer window ahead of 2026 season might mark a breaking point in the history of cycling. Although there have been riders breaking out of their contracts before, such as Cian Uijtdebroeks at the end of 2023 or Ilan Van Wilder and Marc Hirschi in 2021, it had never happened with such frequency as this winter.
One of the silent protagonsists was once again Uijtdebroeks who, after two seasons, parts ways with Visma to join Movistar. Much more discussed was the transfer of his older compatriot Remco Evenepoel. While the talks of Belgian's departure from Soudal - Quick-Step were circulating for many years, it was only now that Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe finally convinced the new Quick-Step manager Jurgen Foré to let go of his greatest asset.
The double Olympic champion still had one season on his standing contract at the Belgian team, but the beverage giant was willing to pay off the rest of Evenepoel's contract to further bolster its star-filled GC lineup. "I heard Red Bull paid Soudal 7 million, even though he only had a year left on his contract," Johan Bruyneel says on The Move podcast.
A sum greater than yearly budgets of some ProTeams, it's a massive commitment for the German team he believes: "Of course, with a three-year contract, they can split it over three years, but it's a big gamble."
Because with such sums also come expectations, higher than usual. "He has to win a major one-day race, which is certainly possible," reckons Bruyneel. "He has to win at least one of the seven major stage races, like Paris-Nice, the Basque Country, Switzerland, or something like that. And he has to be on the podium of a Grand Tour. And the World Time Trial Championship is almost a guarantee."
Is Grand Tour podium even on the cards?
That Grand Tour result would appear to be the biggest challenge, even though a Monumental victory against Tadej Pogacar cannot be taken as granted either. However Evenepoel doesn't need to immediately podium a Tour. He can also lean back on one of his new teammates and co-leaders, namedly Florian Lipowitz who will be defending his third place from year earlier.
"It's not a bad thing to have Lipowitz around. They're not the favorites to win the Tour, so you can't bet everything on someone who's already stood on the podium once. A lot can go wrong, because even if Lipowitz improves, he still won't be anywhere near Pogacar or Vingegaard," Bruyneel weighs pros and cons.
Juan Ayuso's astronomical move
You would think that Evenepoel's clause would become the most expensive of this winter, if not ever? According to Bruyneel, that's not even remotedly close to the amount Lidl-Trek paid to bring on-board Juan Ayuso for next years. Unlike Evenepoel, the Spaniard had a long-running contract through 2028, whose cancellation accumulated to even higher amount.
"It’s the second major transfer where there was a buyout fee," said Bruyneel. Sources report that the fee was 10 million euros. "That’s crazy."
Juan Ayuso at the 2026 season's Lidl-Trek press conference
Yes, Ayuso's a Vuelta podium finisher from 2022, the same edition Remco Evenepoel had won, but since then the 23-year-old Spaniard is yet to take the step up towards his destined role of Grand Tour win contender. Perhaps the change of environment (without Pogacar and Del Toro around) will give Ayuso the inner peace to work his way up. Lidl-Trek give him 5 years to achieve something that would make the seemingly absurd spending justified.
And in any case, it's not like they can go to a supermarket and hire a local fishmonger hoping he'll become the next Jonas Vingegaard... "If you can't have those two, who can you get? Ayuso is very interesting because he's so young," explains the former team director. "He's a huge talent: you don't just finish third in the Vuelta at 19. They didn't have a major leader in the general classification, so it's a good combination."
For fans of soccer-like transfers, there's a lot of action expected before the end of the year, including more contracts being broken, and shifts in power-distribution. Derek Gee is currently pretty much without a team at the moment, but with a €30-million clause that his former team expects paid... and then there is Oscar Onley whose 2027 contract at Picnic PostNL won't get cancelled for spare change either...
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- JV is really slighting himself with not doing the 1 dayers.. 🤷
leedorney02-11-2026 - Watch the interview on youtube. I don't speak French. I do speak English and Spanish and you can hear it in his voice. Years ago LeMond had real personal problems I imagine in no small part because of Armstrong. then Armstrong goes round "full blast" re: LeMond having drinking and drug problems. The same way Andreu was expelled from mainstream cycling so was LeMond. On the positive side the clips of the ride and chatting with old teammates and was good. To seemed like a fun day and experience and good reason brush up his French.atom02-11-2026
- and another no-news article around the ‚2 tokyo jogging rounds‘ headline, this time spiced with some days old ‚news‘ that the LA and japan vacation trips come during or after the tdf route release. i am getting more and more annoyed by this time-stealing no-news crap. but who am i to complain? nobody forces me to come back for more ‚news‘ day after day …Ketterechts02-11-2026
- It would likely be a very steep section of 4.1 km, not changing the average gradient considerably, with the climb remaining 10.1 km at 11.8%. It would reach 20% on the gravel. It would start 1.6 km in, and finish with 4.2 km left to climb (before the short final descent)
Rafionain-Glas02-11-2026 - Welcome to the off-season.
santiagobenites02-11-2026 - guillaume martin in this list is quite a surprise as a gc rider.Ketterechts02-11-2026
- Who cares what Bruyneel thinks. He and his best mate Lance, the biggest fraud in the history of sport, have no place commenting on anything but how to lie and cheat!whit2pet02-11-2026
- Eeesh!Lozza02-11-2026
- bravo! a rider likes jonas needs motivation and he needs to believe in being able to reach goals. he - like anybody else in the world - doesn't believe that he can win the tdf with pogi present. and what's it worth for when pogi is not there? second class victory only. he has checked all three grand tours, so what is left if not retire? the classics! go for it, jonas!Ketterechts02-11-2026
- i am sure that under the pretext of medical examination a lot worse has happened when they were under.abstractengineer02-11-2026
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