We’re nearly a month into cycling’s in-season transfer period, which means we have a much more complete picture of what next year’s WorldTour pelotons will look like.
Though this stretch opened on August 1, many of these moves have been in the works for weeks and months leading up to the start of August, when teams and riders are allowed to officially announce their moves. Some names have been swirling around the rumor mill for months, while others come as a bit of a surprise.
And while the news of two-time World Champion Julian Alaphillipe leaving his longtime home of Soudal Quick-Step for Fabian Cancellara’s Tudor Pro Cycling team is splashy due to the fame and palmarés of those two men, it’s unlikely to make much of a dent when it comes to results.
On the other hand, moves like Alberto Bettiol’s move from EF Education-EasyPost to Astana Qazaqstan or Jhonatan Narváez leaving INEOS Grenadiers for UAE Team Emirates are more likely to result in wins.
However, a few transfers will cause massive ripples in the 2025 WorldTour season, and at least one young rider I expect to have a massive future ahead of him.
Ben O’Connor – Jayco AlUla (from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale)
O’Connor has wanted to win a Grand Tour since he went pro in 2017. His appearance in Netflix’s Tour de France: Unchained bolsters the idea that O’Connor has the talent to be a proper GC guy. However, bad luck and underwhelming performances always seem to rear their ugly heads for the twenty-eight-year-old Aussie.
And while he’s finished just off the podium, nabbing fourth place in both the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France this year, he is, as of this writing, in the mix to win the Vuelta a España.
According to O’Connor, the move was inspired largely by his desire to race for a team native to his home country.
“It’s an idea I’ve always loved, to race as an Aussie and win on an Aussie team," O’Connor said in the press release announcing his signing. "I’m at a point now where I need to deliver, so it’ll be even more special to do it with an Australian set-up. To have the opportunity to race with mates at the top level is rare, and I am just so keen to get stuck in."
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot – (Visma Lease-a-Bike)
This isn’t a transfer as much as it’s a signing, as thirty-two-year-old Frenchwoman Pauline Ferrand-Prévot has spent the last three seasons away from the road bike, dominating the mountain biking scene.
However, after accomplishing just about everything there is to accomplish off-road, Ferrand-Prévot has made her intentions very clear: she wants a Yellow Jersey.
“Women's cycling has come a long way since I left the sport”, she said. “With the support of the team, I am sure I can do great things again, so I am very motivated. I want to win The Tour de France Femmes.”
With up-and-coming twenty-year-old GC rider Maud Oudeman in the Visma ranks, perhaps Ferrand-Prévot can write a blueprint for how to win the world’s greatest bike race.
Victor Campanaerts – Visma Lease-a-Bike (from Lotto Dstny)
The rich get richer, or so it’s said. And nowhere else is that truer right now than with Visma Lease-a-Bike, who’ve added time trial expert Victor Campanaerts to their already stacked stable of TT maestros.
The thirty-two-year-old Belgian joins the likes of Wout van Aert and Jonas Vingegaard, two of the world’s best in the race against the clock. But, as he showed in this year’s Tour de France, he also has the stuff to win stages.
“[Campanaerts] is a very strong rider, with a good time trial, as he proved again in this Tour de France,” Said Visma’s sports director, Grischa Niermann. “By now, he is also a very experienced rider known for his pursuit of innovations. We can use that experience."
Juliette Labous – FDJ Suez (from dsm-firmeninch PostNL)
The twenty-five-year-old French GC rider broke onto the scene in 2022 when she finished fourth in the Tour de France Femmes. The following year, she finished second in the Giro d’Italia. This year, Labous has made it something of a trend to finish just off the podium, with a series of fourth-and-fifth-place finishes in races like the Olympic time trial, the Giro, the Tour de Suisse, and the Vuelta Femenina.
But will a move to the French FDJ-Suez be just the jolt Labous—whose lone win this season was the French national road race championship—needs to take that big step onto the podium in 2025? She certainly has the talent, but much of her success as their GC woman will depend on Labous’s supporting cast.
Simon Yates – Visma Lease-a-Bike (from Jayco AlUla)
Remember what I said about the rich getting richer? Well, in addition to Jonas Vingegaard and Sepp Kuss, the Killer Bees just got another world-class GC rider to possibly fill the hole that was left when Primož Roglič left Visma for Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe.
The thirty-two-year-old Brit already has Grand-Tour pedigree, as he won the 2018 Vuelta a España. His palmarés include six Giro stages, two Tour stages, two Vuelta stages, and four Paris-Nice stages. He finished fourth in last year’s Tour and was a fixture in the high mountains this year.
“This is a team I have admired for a long time, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to join,” Yates said. “I’ve enjoyed much success in my career up to now and I look forward to continuing working hard and contributing to the success of the team.”
Emma Norsgaard – Lidl-Trek (from Movistar)
In Emma Norsgaard, Lidl-Trek has not only added a punchy, one-day specialist to their roster, but also a strong finisher who can work for and around their GC hopeful, the young Gaia Realini.
However, the twenty-five-year-old Norsgaard’s biggest impact will come early in the season, when she will combine with Elisa Balsamo and Shirin van Anrooij, likely create one of the toughest one-two-three punches Classics season has seen in some time.
“This team has always been a dream team for me, and I had the feeling that they have confidence in me and believe so much in me,” the Danish sprinter said. “I am so proud to become part of one of the absolute best teams in the world.”
Giulio Pellizzari – Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe (from Pro Team VF-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè)
I know we said this was the six biggest moves on the transfer market, so consider this a bonus.
Giulio Pellizzari is perhaps the best young rider in cycling not named Remco Evenepoel. The twenty-year-old Italian made a huge name for himself (and perhaps landed him a contract with one of racing’s biggest teams) on Stage 16 of this year’s Giro d’Italia. It was there that Pellizzari, the youngest rider in the Tour, attacked on a protest-shortened day, only to be passed in the final kilometers by Tadej Pogačar of UAE Team Emirates.
After the stage, cameras caught Pogačar giving the young Italian his pink jersey and sunglasses, perhaps a sign of things to come.
It’ll likely be a few years before Pellizzari can consistently swing with the likes of Pogačar, but before too long, we’ll likely see him atop a Grand Tour podium.
With veterans seeking new challenges, young talents ready to prove their mettle, and teams restructuring for success, the 2025 WorldTour season promises to be exciting. Fans can expect an intense and unpredictable year of racing.
