David Gaffney, far left, and Adam Rafferty, second from left, have been part of Merckx's team, which is now in for a big change after a merger (Photo: Fabio Ferrari)
Axel Merckx, who has run the Hagens Berman Jayco development team, in its various guises, since 2009, is now joining Soudal-QuickStep's operation. And he is taking his sponsors – indeed his team structure - with him.
Merckx will run the already operational Soudal-QuickStep development team, and the sponsors he has had in recent years will back that squad.
Soudal QuickStep have billed the move as Merckx’s team - which it called Hagens Berman Axeon - merging with the Soudal-QuickStep development team for next year.
The development effectively means Merckx is breaking the relationship he has had in recent years with the Jayco AlUla World Tour team and merging his team with the Soudal-QuickStep U23 operation.
The move marks the end of the Hagens Berman Jayco team as we know it, as Merckx has been the main figure there for years, including in recent seasons when it has acted as the U23 development team for World Tour squad Jayco AlUla.
Advertisement
If Jayco AlUla wants to keep an U23 team going for next season, it will need a new manager and new sponsors. That team currently includes two young Irish riders on its roster, Waterford's David Gaffney and Tyrone man Adam Rafferty.
Darren Rafferty and double Vuelta stage winner, Eddie Dunbar, also previously rode for the team. Young Irish riders will be hoping Merckx is as keen to sign Irish talent to his new team, though it is heavily tilted towards Belgians, as he has been with his current team.
Related News
However, both Irish riders currently on the Hagens Berman Jayco development team's roster have secured significant results, and raced very strongly, in recent years.
That means, even if Jayco AlUla does not continue with an U23 team next year, Rafferty and Gaffney will be snapped up, if they do not move with Merckx to the Soudal-QuickStep development team.
Rafferty, who is now a third-year U23, has already ridden multiple times for the Jayco AlUla World Tour team and we can probably expect to see him signed by that team as soon as next season.
He was 3rd in the U23 TT at Europeans last year and also claimed a stage at Giro Next Gen. This year he was 2nd overall in both Tour of Rhodes (2.2) and Peace Race (2.2U) while finishing 7th on GC at Giro Next Gen and 2nd in the TT on the final day.
For his part, Gaffney is a first-year U23 who won a bronze medal in the junior road race at the European Championships last year, Ireland's first ever medal in a Europeans road race.
He has really taken to the international U23 scene, including 11th at Giro del Belvedere (1.2U) and a top 20 overall ride at Peace Race (2.2U). The Waterford teenager is not a rider who will fall through the cracks of a team radically changing shape or even shuttering.
“Jurgen and I have known each other since we were young riders, so this partnership feels very natural," Merckx said of Soudal-QuickStep team boss, Jurgen Foré.
"We’ve both experienced the importance of strong development programmes and we’ve both dedicated our careers to helping the next generation.
"Joining forces with Soudal Quick-Step allows us to build on everything we've created over the past two decades while giving our riders access to one of the best performance environments in professional cycling.”
