How is the course transfer done? It could be, but it actually ‘not done’ | Remko Evenpoel

There is no tradition of cycling transfers – 99 per cent of riders cancel their contracts – but the UCI regulations call for temporary transfers between August 1 and 15: Dylan Tunis took advantage of that to move from Bahrain to Israel this summer. With the consent of all parties.

This should also happen if Evenepoel wants to leave Quick.Stop before the end of his contract (until the end of 2026). The three parties will have to agree financially. This is a transmission like football. However, in practice, it will be very difficult, since Lefevere will demand a huge amount in compensation, and perhaps his sponsors will demand it as well. Today he talked about the ridiculously high amount of 125 million euros.

There is another option. The passenger may legally terminate his contract unilaterally. Then he (or his future team) has to pay the wages he would have originally earned to his (former) team. In Evenepoel’s case, it is estimated at around 10 million euros. But such constructions are rare. There is a code of honor in the race: it is not “done” to steal riders away from each other, so few teams tend to cooperate.

Another possibility is that the rider unilaterally terminates his contract for force majeure reasons. This is “free”, but something went wrong with Van Aert when he tried to leave Nick Nuyens like that. Finally, some contracts include pre-determined supplemental fees – this is the simplest of all.