We’ve got another new award for you to consider today. The offseason is always full of surprising rider moves – but whose change of teams has surprised you the most? It’s time to vote for your Most Surprising Transfer.
Stay tuned for our final poll tomorrow – it’s another newbie but it might just be our favourite poll of all.
Previous winners: None.
Jack: Lars Petter Nordhaug rejoining Sky after a two-year stint with Belkin. He did very little when he rode for Sky the first time, so for them to re-sign him seems slightly peculiar.
Kathi: Serial underachiever Edvald Boasson Hagen to MTN-Qhubeka. No surprise that he’s on his way from Sky, but I was sure it was going to be BMC.
Midge: Lars Boom to Astana, after spending his entire career with Rabobank/Belkin. Ignoring the elephant in the room, where is his support in the spring classics going to come from?
Panache: Ivan Basso to Tinkoff-Saxo, having spent the six seasons after his doping ban with the Liquigas/Cannondale squad. I think it was time for him to hang up his boots and ride off gracefully into the sunset.
Sheree: All I want to know is where’s Samuel Sanchez going to end up after allegedly turning down remaining at BMC at the end of his one-year stint?
Tim: For me, it’s Theo Bos moving from Belkin to MTN-Qhubeka. Here’s a vastly underrated guy who just keeps racking up the wins – 28 in his last three seasons, including nine this year. How on earth did he not get picked up by one of the bigger teams?
Ant: What, what, what is Nicolas Roche doing? That was my reaction to him signing for Sky from Tinkoff-Saxo, and that remains the most curious transfer so far, in my opinion.
Let us know your choice and the reasons for it – or if we have missed out your personal favourite – in the comments below.
Polls will close at 1200 GMT (UK time) on Friday 12th December.
Next: Photo of the Year.
Got to go with Ant on this one. If Roche has struggled to get chances to lead in Tinkoff-Saxo, what ever will he be allowed to do for his own palmares at Sky? Of course, in a few years this means that MTN Qhubeka can pick up another great rider from Sky once he’s been used up for domestique duties through out his prime. 😉