Attracted by a possibility of working with his fellow countryman and former mentor Allan Peiper, Rohan Dannis made a rare mid-season move from Garmin-Sharp to BMC Racing and debuted in the black and red outfit of the latter in the Eneco Tour today. An unusual situation sparked a debate about necessary changes in regards to rules regulating a transfer market in cycling.

According to Trinity Sports Management director Andrew McQuaid, while the UCI clearly accepts an August 1-15 window as a period in which rider can move between teams, its rarity it due to several circumstances making reaching such agreement between all parties difficult.

“It’s hard to get agreement between all parties involved. Apart from that I don’t know why it’s not used more,” McQuaid said of the in-season transfer period, according to Cyclingweekly. “[Alessandro] Petacchi last year was a bit different in that he retired [from Lampre-Merida in April] and came back [with Omega Pharma-Quick Step in August]. Apparently there was some rider in the 80s that did a mid-season swap but, in my knowledge, this is the first one that has been done by the rules.

“It’s budget as well,” he continued. “BMC had to takeover his salary, and not many teams do have surplus budget each year, so they can’t afford to take them [riders] because they plan year-on-year.”

McQuaid acknowledges also several positive sides of this kind of agreements, pointing out mostly to aspect connected with motivation and loyalty while competing for a team a rider is due to leave by the end of a season.

“I don’t think it’s quite mid-season in August. That’s a bit deceptive. By that time a lot of the racing is done,” he said.

“The way the current rules are set-up it doesn’t destabilise teams because it can only happen if all teams agree to it; if the teams don’t agree to it then it doesn’t happen.”

“It just makes sense if the rider is going to the team for the next year anyway,” McQuaid said.

“Obviously Garmin – or whatever team it is – want to keep working with riders that they know are going to be with them in the future. When it gets to August and September there’s usually a lot of riders on a team that want to ride a Grand Tour and haven’t yet.

“When you know you’re signing for another team for the year after, even if it’s sub-consciously, there are different loyalties so it just makes sense,” he added.