Cyclist
The 8 most impactful pro cycling transfers this season
Transfer season is well underway and there have been some big moves announced that will undoubtedly have a major impact next year.
We’ve run through the list to pick out the pro transfers that we think will have the greatest impact.
1. Demi Vollering to FDJ-Suez
The question of where Demi Vollering would land for 2025 was finally answered when she announced her move to FDJ-Suez on a two-year deal last month. It was first revealed that Vollering would leave the team she had been a part of since 2021 back in March, at which point the rumour mill quickly began to churn.
It will be a new look for the FDJ team all-round, with Vollering’s arrival coinciding with the departures of Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and Marta Cavalli, along with the retirement of Grace Brown. Vollering will be the new team leader and will be joined by Juliette Labous from DSM-Firmenich-PostNL and Elise Chabbey from Canyon-SRAM.
Évita Muzic is sticking around, and her climbing talents alongside Labous – who finished fourth at La Vuelta Femenina and fifth at the Giro d’Italia – will give FDJ multiple cards to play throughout the season and will hopefully help Vollering feel more supported than she did at SD Worx-Protime.
Vollering will likely target success in the Classics, but the team’s main goal for her will no doubt be regaining the yellow jersey at the Tour de France Femmes after coming so close in 2024. But don’t forget, this time she’ll also have to contend with former boss Anna van der Breggen too…
2. Simon Yates to Visma-Lease a Bike
The Yates twins take their rivalry to new heights in 2025. Simon has been pulled in from Jayco-AlUla, where he has spent his entire professional career to date, to help Visma-Lease a Bike in their fight against Tadej Pogačar and his train of merry men, which includes his brother Adam.
The pair went head to head at the 2023 Tour de France in an enthralling opening stage in Bilbao, with Adam pipping Simon in the sprint for the first maillot jaune. Simon was meant to target the GC at the Tour this year in what would have been his last real chance before moving teams, but he picked up an illness and dropped out of the top ten.
His role is clear for Visma: help Jonas Vingegaard win the Tour and go for his own results when the opportunity arises in other races.
3. Anna van der Breggen to SD Worx-Protime
Not so much a ‘transfer’ but this one will be fascinating. The legendary Anna van der Breggen has come out of retirement, having been a sports director for SD Worx since 2021, to ride for the team.
A dominating figure in her first pro stint, 34-year-old Van der Breggen has practically won it all: Olympic gold; World, European and National Championships; multiple Classics in La Flèche Wallonne (for seven consecutive years), Amstel Gold Race, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Tour of Flanders; plus stage races, including four editions of the Giro d’Italia.
However, Van der Breggen never got the chance to participate in the Tour de France Femmes, so she has returned to the professional peloton on a two-year contract with ‘the motivation and the will to cycle completely back’, and a focus on enjoyment rather than immediately trying for certain wins.
‘I always want to win. However, that doesn’t mean you always can win. That’s fine too, because that only makes the victories you have more beautiful,’ she said.
As a sports director, she worked closely with Vollering. It’ll be interesting to see how that potential battle unfolds as well as her dynamic with strong teammates including Lotte Kopecky, who surely won’t be wanting to give up her new top dog spot so soon..
4. Elisa Longo Borghini to UAE Team ADQ
2024 Giro d’Italia victor Elisa Longo Borghini is moving to UAE Team ADQ for the next three seasons. The 32-year-old spent six years with Lidl-Trek, with whom she had incredible success, not only winning that Giro but countless one-day races including Strade Bianche, Trofeo Alfredo Binda, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
Current teammate Brodie Chapman is also moving with her as they join riders such as Karlijn Swinkels and Silvia Persico. Longo Borghini is aiming for a title defence at the Giro plus Ardennes Classics victories, with her best results there coming in the form of two consecutive second places at Liège in 2023 and 2024.
She will also look towards making her mark at the Tour de France Femmes, where she finished sixth in during the inaugural edition in 2022 but abandoned the following year.
5. Niamh Fisher-Black to Lidl-Trek
24-year-old Niamh Fisher-Black has been steadily developing since turning professional in 2020, winning the first women’s U23 title at the World Championships in Wollongong, 2022.
She has had a quietly impressive season, with a podium finish and stage victory at the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana plus top ten placings at La Vuelta Femenina and the Giro d’Italia. Her ride at the Giro was also supplemented with an impressive stage victory ahead of Kopecky, Labous and Longo Borghini.
Mostly riding in support of others so far, Fisher-Black signed a three-year deal with Lidl-Trek to play ‘a key role in the team and their goals’ while also looking to explore her further potential in GC racing. She joins alongside Anna Henderson, Emma Norsgaard and Riejanne Markus in a big window for the team.
6. Marc Hirschi to Tudor Pro Cycling
2024 has been Marc Hirschi’s most successful year with UAE Team Emirates since he joined in early 2021.
He had been sweeping up UCI points in a particularly strong period of six weeks that comprised overall victory at the Czech Tour followed by five consecutive wins at the Donostia San Sebastián Klasikoa, the Bretagne Classic, GP Industria & Artigianato, Coppa Sabatini and Memorial Pantani. It means that he’s picked up the second most UCI points for the team behind Tadej Pogačar.
But now he moves out of the WorldTour to Tudor Pro Cycling, where he joins Julian Alaphilippe, Alberto Dainese, Michael Storer and Matteo Trentin in a bid to push for promotion, with 2025 the last year of the current cycle.
Now it’s likely Tudor won’t make the top 18 for a spot in the WorldTour when the time comes, having finished 2024 with a total of 5,753.33 points to sit 23rd. But this year’s not the be all and end all, they’re thinking about long term growth.
7. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig to Canyon-SRAM
Former Danish National Champion Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig will join Canyon-SRAM on a two-year contract to boost the team in one-day Classics and stage races. Her last season with FDJ-Suez has been a year of crashes and illnesses, including a nasty one at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, that she will look to put in her rear-view mirror with new scenery.
Uttrup Ludwig is certain she’ll fit in with the ‘aggressive racing style’ of Canyon-SRAM. She’ll be helping the team try to defend Kasia Niewiadoma’s Tour de France title, while also going for her own ambitions with multiple stages that suit her punchy style early on.
8. Marlen Reusser to Movistar
Another rider hit with illness this season, Marlen Reusser has left SD Worx and signed a three-year contract with Movistar. One of the world’s best riders on her day, most notably in time-trials, Reusser missed most of the 2024 season with post-infection syndrome.
Upon signing with Movistar, Reusser said, ‘I have not yet reached my full potential. I think that I have the abilities, both physically and mentally, and the right environment at my side to go even further.’
She’ll jump into a leadership role with her experience including overall victories at Setmana Ciclista Valenciana, the Tour de Suisse and Itzulia, and she joins riders including Liane Lippert, Floortje Mackaij and Cat Ferguson.
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