Autotranslated:

The merger fusion juice between Jumbo-Visma and Soudal-Quick Step seems to have come to an end. From the Netherlands blown over that the merger will not take place. Patrick Lefevere and lender Zdenek Bakala would continue together until 2025. What this means for Remco Evenepoel is not yet clear.

Two weeks ago, a bomb fell in the peloton, when the rumor of a merger between the two top teams turned out to be no rumor. Team Jumbo - Visma and Soudal - Quick Step had signed a letter of intent to merge in the summer.

Jumbo-Visma knew that Jumbo would stop after 2024 and was looking for sponsors. The Dutch billionaire Robert van de Red Light District, who is on the Supervisory Board of Jumbo-Visma, had some conversations with Bakala in the summer, at the end were also the team managers Richard Plugge and Patrick Lefevere.

A lot of cycling followers, but also riders and staff fell from the sky. Uncertainty ruled, the future of many was at stake. Because a team can only count 30 riders. Who was allowed to stay, who had to leave?

What was the human toll? Apart from the legal and sporty. Because that exercise was not yet made, Lefevere gave up last weekend. There were more questions than answers for two weeks. October 18 was the UCI deadline.

But a whole pack of questions may now be possible in the trash, because without fusion everything stays more or less with the old one.

Quid Evenepoel?

Jumbo-Visma, meanwhile, partnered with the American e-commerce company Amazon, a global player, although it is not immediately clear what the input will be.

Lefevere and Bakala would complete their project together until 2025, we heard from good source, although the latter would like to reduce.

Additional investments to strengthen the round core around Remco Evenepoel no longer seem possible. So the question is how Evenepoel will react to all of this.