Geraint Thomas has dismissed claims that Jumbo Visma merging with Soudal-QuickStep would bring the Dutch team's budget up to the level of Ineos Grenadiers, adding talk about his team's budget down the years was "convenient" but ultimately "a load of bollocks".
The Welshman also doubted the mooted team merger, saying Jumbo Visma already had far more money than people thought. He questioned what the incentive would be for the Dutch team to merge, or take over, Soudal-QuickStep.
He also doubted how Remco Evenepoel, now the dominant force in Soudal-QuickStep - which previously had 'wolfpack', or group, identity - would fit into a merged team with riders like Grand Tour champions Jonas Vingegaard, Primož Roglič and Sepp Kuss, as well as Wout van Aert.
And while some of Thomas's comments on that subject were clearly made in jest, he still made the point about what would be the very difficult merger of talent.
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“The one thing I would say is Remco hates Jumbo, and Jumbo hate Remco. So that’s not gonna work, is it? Unless they do different programmes," he jokingly said on his Watts Occurring podcast with team mate Luke Rowe.
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"You should hear what Roglič says about Remco…” laughed Thomas, before making another serious point doubting the merger idea. "I’m not trying to start any rumours or anything, I’m just saying. For me, the only thing I would say is why would Jumbo want to do that?”
While it had been suggested the merger would enable Jumbo Visma to compete financially on a par with Ineos Grenadiers and UAE Team Emirates, Thomas suggested his own team's budget was always over-estimated and the Jumbo Visma budget was always under estimated. He said that narrative - about Ineos Grenadiers having far more money that Jumbo Visma - was "a load of bollocks".
“I don’t know officially what we’re on, but I know it’s more of a stringent budget, should I say," he said of spending being more controlled now within his team. "With Team Sky, they could get in a bit more cash if they needed. But mate, there’s so much been said about budgets over the years and everyone just says we’ve always got the biggest, and it’s just a nice, easy, convenient thing to say.
"Those three teams all have big budgets. If you have got van Aert, Roglič, Vingegaard, Dylan (Van Baarle), Kuss, you’ve got a bit of cash in the bank,” he said of Jumbo Visma.
However, he added if it was the case Jumbo Visma could only get an increase in budget - as it is about to lose Jumbo as a sponsor - by merging with another team it was a sad reflection on the state of pro cycling. He pointed to the success Jumbo Visma has had, saying if that team could not find a new title sponsor to replace Jumbo, that was a concern for the sport.
