Gianni Vermeersch grateful to the Roodhooft brothers after Red Bull transfer: “It shows they’re doing a lot of things right”

The 33-year-old developed over recent seasons at Alpecin into a rider Mathieu van der Poel and co could truly build on. That is exactly the type of racer Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe wanted to help guide a core that includes the Van Dijke brothers and Laurence Pithie.

So how does a transfer like that come together? “After the Spring my agent told me there was interest. Then you have a few conversations and it becomes a deal — it’s actually a pretty standard story,” Vermeersch explained at his new team’s media day.

That doesn’t mean he decided overnight. “I’d been with that team for a very long time. On the one hand, I did think about it — knowing I probably don’t have ten more years of racing — and I also had the idea of finishing my career with that team.”

“But on the other hand, I was open to a new challenge, and I realised it could be good to let a fresh wind blow for that extra one percent,” he said. “In the talks, Red Bull made it very clear what they had in mind for me. They wanted someone with experience. Last year they already had a strong group, but the results didn’t really come.”

With Vermeersch on board, those results should hopefully follow — while Alpecin-Premier Tech can also look with pride at the outgoing transfers from last winter. Alongside Vermeersch, riders such as Quinten Hermans, Xandro Meurisse (Pinarello-Q36.5), Robbe Ghys (Decathlon CMA CGM), Fabio Van den Bossche (Soudal Quick-Step) and Timo Kielich (Visma | Lease a Bike) have also made a step up.

All of them blossomed under the Roodhooft brothers. “They can look positively at those transfers too, because it’s the success of their story. If so many of your good riders get picked up, it only means you’ve done a lot of things right — and you’re still doing a lot of things right.”

“At Alpecin they were pleasantly surprised and they granted me this step. After all those years it was a special goodbye, because that team felt like family. That contact with riders and staff certainly won’t fade away. I have an awful lot to thank Christoph and Philip Roodhooft for,” Vermeersch said, with clear respect for his former bosses.

How did he view Red Bull’s Spring campaign from inside the successful Van der Poel/Philipsen organisation? “At first you’re mainly busy with your own team. Afterwards you reflect on it, and you do see patterns with the successful teams — they often manage to race as a unit. That’s the most efficient way to race, certainly in Flanders or Roubaix.”

That is the approach he hopes to help bring to Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. “It’s definitely the ambition to take a step forward as a team. We have a broad group and that means we can have a lot of riders in the final. It’s up to us to create a tight group, where everyone knows what they can do and what their role will be.”

The reigning gravel world champion will start his season on Monday at the Spanish gravel race Clásica Jaén, while last year he also made an impression in the Italian ‘Strade’ variant. “Strade Bianche is a race that really appeals to me. After the course change, I felt it had become a bit too hard for me — but last year I finished seventh… so maybe there’s still something possible,” the motivated Belgian concluded.