Articles

The new season is coming in fast and teams are in full preparation with new riders on board. In this article we do a quick recap and overview of some interesting transfer statistics. 

Figure 1. 1. Top transfers from 2023 into 2024.

The first statistic is a list of transfers sorted by position in the PCS ranking. Primož Roglič is the highest positioned rider that transferred to another team. In total 16 riders from the top-100 transferred to another team. How high was this number in previous years?

Figure 2. 2. Number of riders from the top-100 of the PCS ranking that transferred per season.

A total of 16 riders from the top-100 transferring is together with 2014 the lowest number since 2000. Compared to the first decade of the century the trend seems to be that riders stick longer with their team. 

Figure 3. 3. WorldTour teams by transfer surplus. Click on the team for a breakdown.

Which teams have reinforced their team the most? In the above chart we have tabelized the teams by their transfer surplus. We compute this number by subtracting the PCS points that leave the team (outgoing transfers, retirements) from the incoming points (incoming transfers). For example, if a team attracts two riders with a PCS point total of 1000, and three riders leave the team who are worth in total 800 points, the transfer surplus is a positive 200. We find that team Bora have done best (a.o. Roglic and Welsford, Uijtdebroeks out) with a nett surplus of 2083. On the other end we find team INEOS with a negative of 2148 (a.o. Sivakov and Geoghegan Hart out, Foss in). 

Figure 4. 4. Pro transfers 2024 for riders with the least UCI professional results.

Besides the top transfers another fun list is chart 4. This is the list of riders transferring to a WorldTour team, sorted by the least number of results in professional races (level 1 and up). There are three riders who have zero racedays on the professional circuit which makes sense as they come directly from the juniors' category. It will be interesting to follow how these riders will develop.

Figure 5. 5a. Average age of WorldTour teams in 2024 sorted by youngest.

Figure 6. 5b. Average age per season.

Groupama-FDJ is the youngest team in 2024, almost equal with Team dsm-firmenich PostNL. In chart 5b we have plotted the average age per season for a set of teams. Although not a WT team in 2024, we have inserted the line for team Israel-Premier Tech as it stands out.