"If a team keeps that rider for longer, performance will suffer" - Cian Uijtdebroeks' transfer a good example for change in transfer system, Jan Bakelants argues

The 2023 transfer market has seen one of the most talked about transfers of recent years in Cian Uijtdebroeks. Jan Bakelants argues that this move may be of an example for a new type of transfer market within the sport.

"I am also in favor of a free market. Until now, people have been reluctant to accept a situation in which a team receives an offer from another team to buy off a rider. I believe that if a rider is interested in this and the team in question agrees with the offered lump sum payment, then there should be no problem in terminating the contract," Jan Bakelants shared with Het Laatste Nieuws. That may happen with Team Visma | Lease a Bike as the UCI have not yet approved the transfer.

BORA - hansgrohe asked for a €1 million euro payout, but it s possible that this will be smaller - or none at all - depending on their response of this complicated case, where not everything is public or clear. Bakelants presents the argument that the rider would be harmed if a transfer did not happen, and if there is the interest from another team to buy out a fee than a transfer should be possible.

"The absence of a transfer system ensures stability. Very often riders no longer fit into the team's philosophy. If a team keeps that rider for longer, performance will suffer. Then it is better for you to participate constructively in a transfer," the former pro argues. "The Uijtdebroeks case is a good example. The relationship between Cian and his team is at an end. Then it is better to cooperate in a transfer. This has become more discussed in recent years."

However, there would have to be some sort of limit as this could allow teams to conduct signings with the purpose of profit. "The sport is too small for a transfer system in which the approach is a revenue model. The danger is that the financially stronger teams can buy away the best riders, as we also see in football." However that is not too different than what has been the case in the last decade, with Team Sky and now UAE Team Emirates using their huge budgets to sign plenty stars, whilst Jumbo-Visma is not too far off but attracts riders due to their overall success and development of riders.

Bakelants says that the youngster Uijtdebroeks had the freedom in BORA - hansgrohe, but the team did not flly take advantage of this - a situation which would not have happened until recent years: "...You were the new, little rooster on the farm and it was better for the established order that you remained small. Nowadays, young riders are placed on a pedestal and given every opportunity to develop themselves to the fullest from day one. This is exactly what is not in line with what the team leaders at BORA have been doing."

"Their role should also be examined critically. I thought it was a shame and very painful how Vlasov showed himself in the Vuelta a Espana. That was a sign of the times. Today a team leader is inclined to pull the card of the new kid on the block, because you know that that is the lifeline of the team for the next five or six years."

"That didn't happen and I think that's a shame. And certainly with everything that is going on in geopolitics. Then you say: we have to get rid of that Russian as quickly as possible. Because how many BORA extractor hoods are still sold in Russia? Then they would have been better off actively working on a transfer for Vlasov?" Bakelants concluded.