Quinten Hermans, fresh off a victory in the Baloise Belgium Tour and with a second place in Liège-Bastogne-Liège this season, was so sure of his inclusion in Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert's roster for the Tour de France that he already had his flight booked. In a surprise move, the team opted not to bring the Belgian.
According to Sporza.be, Hermans only learned of his exclusion just before the team's roster was announced Monday evening.
"At first I thought the call was coming to hear how I'm doing because we're leaving tomorrow and my flight was booked. But there was bad news," Hermans told the Belgian news outlet adding he did not receive any explanation for his omission.
Article continues below"Would I have expected this? No, absolutely not. I thought I was a certainty, but at 5:30 p.m. I got a call from Aike Visbeek, our performance manager,"
"The reason why I have to stay at home is not clear. But it certainly has nothing to do with sport. It is very unfortunate."
Hermans is rumoured to be moving across to Mathieu van der Poel's team, which will become Alpecin-Deceuninck next season and will almost certainly move up to the WorldTour.
When asked if this was a factor, Hermans would not speculate. The UCI's official transfer window doesn't open until August 1, but deals are often made before or during the Tour de France and only put to paper when the rules allow. "I don't want to confirm that. It wasn't said in those words, but one plus one is still two, right?" Hermans suggested.
The team suggested the atmosphere within the Tour de France team might suffer because of Herman's impending departure. "I was always a rider they liked to work with. I think it's weird that I would change the atmosphere when I don't have that feeling and I don't think the other riders either. They were also shocked."
Hermans was not the highest-profile rider left out of the 2022 Tour de France, however. Mark Cavendish, winner of 34 Tour de France stages and one short of the record set by Eddy Merckx, did not make QuickStep-AlphaVinyl's team. Sam Bennett, winner of the green jersey in 2020 and two stages, did not make Bora-Hansgrohe's squad.
