New Irish pro Conti team (aka The Aquablue thread)

Pudsy33

The latest rumours out of Belgium suggests ABS are merging with Verandas-Willems-Crelan and with have Van Aert among their ranks next year.

neris

Pudsy33 wrote: »

The latest rumours out of Belgium suggests ABS are merging with Verandas-Willems-Crelan and with have Van Aert among their ranks next year.

Article on sticky bottle aboyt it

Raam

When is Wout off to Lotto Jumbo?

YakerK

Looks to be confirmed on their website that they are buying Verandas-Willems-Crelan

Pudsy33

Raam wrote: »

When is Wout off to Lotto Jumbo?

2020, so one year in AquaBlue

1bryan

https://twitter.com/AquaBlueSport/status/1024652848439742464

the important thing here is the direction of the acquisition. Probably means they'll stay Irish.

Pudsy33

All mention of the announcement gone from social media and their website. Methinks someone jumped the gun, or WVA is heading elsewhere.

CrowdedHouse

Very strange, was wondering why I couldn't see the tweet 1bryan linked

1bryan

hmm, that is strange. It looked very official. Regret that I didn't screenshot it.

Here's one they probably won't delete

https://twitter.com/AquaBlueSport/status/1024676376509603840

victory for Hansen in the Tour of Denmark

mr spuckler

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/van-aert-to-ride-for-aqua-blue-sport-as-irish-team-acquires-verandas-willems/

eeeee

mr spuckler wrote: »

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/van-aert-to-ride-for-aqua-blue-sport-as-irish-team-acquires-verandas-willems/

Here as well:
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/wout-van-aert-joins-aqua-blue-sport-2019-388842

mr spuckler

nee wrote: »

Here as well:
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/wout-van-aert-joins-aqua-blue-sport-2019-388842

there's a lot of quotes to be taken back if it falls through!

TheBlaaMan

This is great news and I don't really understand the negative vibes running through some postings on the forum. Anything that assist in insuring the future of the future of the team and its staff is to be welcomed, in my opinion, and these sort of mergers and acquisitions are part and parcel of any business arrangement.

This is also an intelligent approach to getting ABS into more headline races, as having WVA on-board will offer a lucrative enticement for races to invite ABS. Broadening the appeal and reach of the team can only be positive

Inquitus

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

This is great news and I don't really understand the negative vibes running through some postings on the forum. Anything that assist in insuring the future of the future of the team and its staff is to be welcomed, in my opinion, and these sort of mergers and acquisitions are part and parcel of any business arrangement.

This is also an intelligent approach to getting ABS into more headline races, as having WVA on-board will offer a lucrative enticement for races to invite ABS. Broadening the appeal and reach of the team can only be positive

Turns out this might be all nonsense, WVA has gone to Lotto Jumbo according to some, very strange anyways the conflicting announcements, ABS have taken down their tweet. I hope it turns out to be true, be a big step in the right direction for the team.

Eamonnator

Inquitus wrote: »

Turns out this might be all nonsense, WVA has gone to Lotto Jumbo according to some, very strange anyways the conflicting announcements, ABS have taken down their tweet. I hope it turns out to be true, be a big step in the right direction for the team.

source, please.

TychoCaine

Inquitus wrote: »

Turns out this might be all nonsense, WVA has gone to Lotto Jumbo according to some, very strange anyways the conflicting announcements, ABS have taken down their tweet. I hope it turns out to be true, be a big step in the right direction for the team.

His current contract runs through to the end of *next* year, so ABS have him for one season. His contract with Lotto NL Jumbo doesn't start until 2020.

CrowdedHouse

Cyclingnews article above has been amended to include

An denial of the deal followed on Sniper Cycling's social media account from the team management, saying:

"We dissociate ourselves expressly from all communication that has been published today regarding the supposed acquisition of our team by Aqua Blue Sport. We can confirm that Sniper Cycling and Aqua Blue Sport are currently holding talks to look into possible collaboration from 2019 onwards. Out of respect to all parties involved, we will currently refrain from further comments."

gman2k

From Velonews

Not long after Aqua Blue Sport announced via its website that it was acquiring fellow Pro Continental outfit Veranda’s Willems-Crelan, both teams have distanced themselves from any talk of an acquisition.

For a few hours, it appeared that world cyclocross champ and budding classics specialist Wout Van Aert would be riding in Aqua Blue kit in 2019, but the initial post on the Aqua Blue website has since been taken down. Meanwhile, team founder Rick Delaney has tweeted, “Don’t you just love fake news everywhereâ€â€”although it is not expressly clear that he is referring to the reports of a Veranda’s Willems deal.

The Belgian squad went further, delivering a statement on the news.

“We dissociate ourselves expressly from all communication that has been published today regarding the supposed acquisition of our team by Aqua Blue Sport,†Veranda’s Willems tweeted Wednesday afternoon. “We can confirm however that Sniper Cycling and Aqua Blue Sport are currently holding talks to look into a possible collaboration from 2019 onwards. Out of respect to all parties involved, we will currently refrain from further comments.â€

Inquitus

Eamonnator wrote: »

source, please.

Sorry for the lack of sources, I see they have now been given, I have heard Mr Delaney is a bit of a gobshíte as far as running ABS goes, this sort of carry on seems to backup what I have heard on the grapevine.

CrowdedHouse

He got knocked off the bike a couple of weeks ago, maybe it's still affecting him.

1bryan

Inquitus wrote: »

Sorry for the lack of sources, I see they have now been given, I have heard Mr Delaney is a bit of a gobshíte as far as running ABS goes, this sort of carry on seems to backup what I have heard on the grapevine.

He's the new Oleg Tinkov

eeeee

1bryan wrote: »

He's the new Oleg Tinkov

Oh Jesus *groan*

Thud

"The acquisition of Veranda's Willems-Crelan by Aqua Blue Sport has suddenly changed into a soap opera. Het Laatste Nieuws reports that even the riders currently do not know where they stand. Moreover, the staff of the Belgian formation are afraid of losing their job in a merger. Aqua Blue Sport proudly announced the takeover on Wednesday, but that message has since been removed from the site. An important reason? With a takeover, Van Aert would become transfer free and he could advance to LottoNL-Jumbo.

Sports lawyer Mathieu Baert explains the difficulty of the case in Het Nieuwsblad : 'In the event of a complete takeover, all contracts must be taken over and the existing agreements must be respected. Just like possible debts. The employment contracts are also taken over. There may be a change of control clause in Van Aert's contract. He can then terminate the contract with a takeover, but that opportunity seems to me to be minimal. '

Veranda's Willems-Crelan took away the premature messages. The riders now want clarity quickly. Van Aert: 'I want to know quickly what is going on now. I have a contract with Nuyens before 2019 and I want to respect that. But an acquisition is still something different than a new main sponsor. I do not know anything about that team, nor have I ever spoken to anyone. I have not spoken to Nuyens about next season's team. But that will happen, surely? " (Photo: Veranda's Willems-Crelan)"

Translated from this:
https://www.indeleiderstrui.nl/nieuws/algemeen-nieuws/181171/update-aqua-blue-sport-verwijdert-persbericht-is-van-aert-straks-transfervrij

mr spuckler

1bryan wrote: »

hmm, that is strange. It looked very official. Regret that I didn't screenshot it.

Here's one they probably won't delete

https://twitter.com/AquaBlueSport/status/1024676376509603840

victory for Hansen in the Tour of Denmark

team Aque Blue are on a roll :pac:

Tour of Denmark: Van Aert wins stage 2 in Vejle

Lusk_Doyle

nee wrote: »

Oh Jesus *groan*

Jesus loves ALL of God's children.

CrowdedHouse

Aqua Blue on the way out it seems, unfortunately.

https://twitter.com/AquaBlueSport/status/1033989270690836480

Keeks

CrowdedHouse wrote: »

Aqua Blue on the way out it seems, unfortunately.

https://twitter.com/AquaBlueSport/status/1033989270690836480

been on the cards for a while.....I like the concept and the idea, but the mistakes made were more than fundamental....

I wonder where Dunbar will end up now?

dahat

I'd say Dunbar would have like another year with Aqua Blue before moving on to bigger and better.

1bryan

The timing of this is very unfortunate for the riders. Most of the contract negotiations is carried out from mid-July to mid-August. If AquaBlue waited til now to inform their riders, many could have missed the boat for a contract elsewhere for next season.

py

You'd wonder if they would've gone on for another year had they got invites to any of the grand tours. Hoping the riders and staff get sorted for next year.