There has been much discussion in recent seasons about the transfer system in cycling and the desire to implement a system similar to that which exists in other sports, primarily football , where teams, in order to acquire an athlete, pay the cost of the registration to the team with which the athlete in question has a contract.

There have already been examples of “compensation” being paid to a team to terminate a rider’s contract early and allow him to move to another team, but the case of Oscar Onley, who moved from Team Picnic PostNL to Ineos Grenadiers this year , risks becoming a significant precedent.

Even though Onley's contract with Picnic was still in force, Ineos paid €6 million for him , a sum never before paid in cycling.

Picnic PostNL manager Iwan Spekenbrink shared his thoughts on this: “On a personal level, when it happened, for three or four days I kept saying, ‘Sh…, this isn’t what we wanted.’ When you build something, when you’re successful, and when there’s a really good connection, it’s always difficult. Oscar is an honest guy, he gives everything he has for his job, so it was great to work with him . But if you put that aside, you build teams, and if you look at what we do, we’re good at finding good riders and developing them. Two years ago, few people knew about Oscar . We know how to find talent and we invest a lot in it. What happened with Oscar isn’t the result of poor work, but of good work. It’s the confirmation of a job.

"When you're successful, many riders can do well," Spekenbrink continued. "It's like in football: when you do a good job, many athletes succeed, and you have to make choices. That's what happened with Oscar, and we had to put the team's best interests first. We need a transfer system like in football. In football, you can change teams, but you have to negotiate a fee for your transfer. There are too many games being played in cycling now, especially by agents. It's chaos . Whether we like it or not, we need a system where if you have a contract, there's also a clause established. For that clause, you don't even have to negotiate: you can leave . But if the clause isn't paid, the rider has to stay and respect the contract."

Photo: Sprint Cycling Agency