Jumbo-QuickStep merger latest; Bahrain seek 2nd sponsor; Thibaut Pinot Ultras head for Lombardy; Guangxi returns after 3-year break

The European road season may be heading for its grand finale in Lombardy this weekend, but there's no end yet to the talk of mergers. As uncertainty continues to linger over the men's peloton, these are RadioCycling's headlines...  Blood on the carpet – with the UCI weighing in as the Jumbo-Visma/Soudal-QuickStep merger meltdown continues, we examine the latest developments in this ongoing saga. Is SQS boss Patrick Lefevere the good guy? And what of Richard Plugge,  the Jumbo-Visma  boss who's also the head of the professional teams' association. Has his reputation been tarnished?Money, money, money – Bahrain want even more: They may be backed to the tune of €30 million a season, but that's little more than half the funding that the strongest teams now pull in. We hear from Bahrain boss Milan Erzen about his thwarted desire to prevent Mikel Landa from leaving, why he was never in the market for Primož Roglič, and what the gulf state-backed team's Plan B if it can't find a secondary sponsor to invest €10 million or more. The Thibaut Pinot Ultras head for Lombardy: As the much-beloved Frenchman prepares to make his final racing appearance at Il Lombardia on Saturday, we hear from the Collectif Ultras Pinot, the fans who packed the final climb of the Tour de France in July and are now heading to Italy by all means possible to pay a final tribute to their sporting hero. They're planning quite a party!The long road back for Guangxi: After the cancellation of the last three editions due to the effects of the Covid pandemic, the Tour of Guangxi is not only back on the WorldTour calendar but also set to take place. Race director Olivier Senn tells us about the difficulties faced in relaunching it, why the 2023 route will look very similar to the last edition in 2019, and what the race's return means for the sporting landscape in China.
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