Damien Howson, Gianluca Brambilla, Matteo Moschetti set to join Doug Ryder’s new team in 2023

Doug Ryder is busily putting the finishing touches to his second-tier men’s team for next year, with one source telling VeloNews that the South African has about 18 riders enlisted for 2023.

VeloNews confirmed that list includes WorldTour riders Damien Howson, Gianluca Brambilla, and Matteo Moschetti.

Howson is out of contract at Team BikeExchange at the end of the season, and has not renewed with the Australian team. Trek Segafredo already has 30 riders for next season, and Brambilla and Moschetti are not among the American team’s plans.

Alex Sans Vega, currently a sports director at the Human Powered Health Pro Cycling Team, Serge Pauwels, and Gabriel Missaglia have all been given spots in the team cars as directors, while Vincenzo Nibali, as already reported by VeloNews in August, has joined the team in a consultation role. The Italian will hang up his racing wheels at the end of this campaign.

Also read: Doug Ryder is quietly building a ProTeam for 2023 as speculation mounts surrounding a billionaire’s backing

In terms of a bike supplier, Scott looks set to land that spot.

In terms of team registration with the UCI, submission ends on October 17, with bank guarantees required a week earlier.

A title sponsor has yet to be confirmed, but Q36.5, an Italian cycling apparel company is set to be the team’s clothing supplier.

In August VeloNews revealed that Ivan Glasenberg, a successful South African billionaire, is financially backing the project. One source told VeloNews that Ryder has both a title and secondary sponsor lined up.

Glasenberg retired as CEO of Glencore, one of the world’s biggest mining and commodities trading companies in 2021, but since then moved to Switzerland, where his passion for cycling blossomed. In 2021 Glasenberg also invested in Q36.5.

Ryder has been searching for a main title sponsor since the end of 2021 when his Qhubeka-NextHash squad collapsed and fell out of the WorldTour due to lack of finances.

NextHash had joined during the summer of that season as the team scrambled for survival but several reports indicated that the company failed to supply the team with funds. Several sub sponsors were asked to pay their sponsorship commitments earlier than planned in order to keep the team afloat.

Also read:

• What next for Africa’s Team Qhubeka-NextHash?
• Doug Ryder confirms sponsor search continues for Qhubeka-NextHash
• Nic Dlamini: From South African township to Tour de France hero

At the end of the year, with no solutions in sight, the team was forced to close and drop out of the WorldTour. The squad continental team survived and several riders on that roster are expected to make the step up next season.

VeloNews reached out to Ryder for comment, but has yet to have a response in relation to rider signings for 2023.