Cycling Transfers: Top 5 Moves for the 2015 Season

With the racing finished for another year, teams are now in the process of finalising their 2015 squads and Peter Sagan's move to Tinkoff-Saxo is the biggest transfer of the year by far.

While most transfers are agreed upon in July and August, the winter months still pack plenty of punch when it comes to rider moves.

Here I count down the top five transfers of the year, based on how big an impact the rider will have upon their new team.

While not all of the riders on this list will provide fireworks from start to finish in 2015, there can be no doubt that their new teams will feel an instant benefit when the winter training camps swing around in the next few months.

Sagan and Nacer Bouhanni are both up there in my list but some guys had to miss out, most of whom fit into the super-domestique category.

Nicolas Roche's heroics in support of Alberto Contador in the 2013 and 2014 Tours de France will have bumped up his pay packet as he moves to Team Sky from Tinkoff-Saxo, but he just missed the cut here.

As did four-time Spanish time trial champion Luis Leon Sanchez, who leaves the Caja Rural wilderness to join Vincenzo Nibali's Astana, having picked up the mountains jersey in the Vuelta a Espana.

But here's my top five, starting with a rider who is looking to recapture his best form.

Edvald Boasson Hagen's five-year spell at Team Sky somewhat petered out in the final 12 months.

But with the chance to race with the African MTN-Qhubeka squad, the Norwegian has the chance to get that winning feeling once more.

Boasson Hagen's last win came at the Criterium du Dauphine back in June 2013, but his big-race credentials make his signing for the relatively lowly MTN-Qhubeka all the more impressive.

The African outfit are not guaranteed a World Tour license next season, but boss Doug Ryder told Cycling News his side would be willing to make the step up from Pro Continental, should they be invited. 

As an all-rounder, Boasson Hagen should have the opportunity to lead his new team in the hillier spring Classics that MTN-Qhubeka are targeting in 2015, with fellow new signing Matthew Goss a leading contender to challenge for sprint stages.

According to Sky Sports, Boasson Hagen, who has two Tour de France stage wins to his name, turned down offers from World Tour teams in order to sign with MTN-Qhubeka, so let's see if he finds form once more. 

The Norwegian doesn't have the wow-factor of someone like Peter Sagan, but, should MTN obtain a wild card for the Tour de France, Boasson Hagen could be a rival to the Slovakian's dominance of the green jersey competition.

At the age of 36 (37 by the time the 2015 season starts), and with declining results over the past few seasons, two-time Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso is no longer considered a Grand Tour candidate.

But that doesn't mean the Italian will be sitting back and picking up a pay cheque at Tinkoff-Saxo.

With team leader Alberto Contador looking to complete a gruelling Giro-Tour double, he will need some experienced heads alongside him to guide him up the Italian and French mountains.

And Basso told Colin Henrys of Road Cycling UK that he is prepared for his new life as a domestique, which bodes well for his prospective relationship as Contador's right-hand man. 

While his season will not be judged on race wins, like the other names on this list, Basso's role at Tinkoff-Saxo will be just as vital as Peter Sagan's and Bauke Mollema's at Trek in helping to bring success to the team.

Following successive top-10 finishes in the Tour de France with Belkin, Bauke Mollema swaps the Dutch team for the American Trek Factory Racing squad.

The move was announced well before Trek's 2011 Tour winner Andy Schleck announced his retirement, but the Luxembourger's departure all but puts Mollema in pole position to lead his new side in France in July.

The 27-year-old blasted onto the scene in 2011, when he finished fourth at the Vuelta a Espana—winning the points classification in the process.

A sixth-place finish at the Tour in 2013 was followed by 10th place this year and Mollema certainly offers Trek an upgrade on their ageing Grand Tour options of Haimar Zubeldia, 37, and Franck Schleck, 33.

Trek manager Luca Guercilena said, via Sky Sports, that he sees Mollema as a threat for the hilly classics as well as stage races, and he certainly should help boost Trek's prize-money coffers in 2015.

At the beginning of the season it looked as if FDJ.fr had a double-pronged sprint attack which could go on to dominate the World Tour for years to come.

Nacer Bouhanni, 23, and Arnaud Demarre, 22, notched up 23 wins between them in 2014, with the former winning the Giro d'Italia sprint jersey in May, while that latter was crowned French national champion in the summer.

But with every great duo comes a power struggle, and it was Bouhanni who rubbed team manager Marc Madiot up the wrong way, as reported by Cycling News, in an interview with French newspaper L'Equipe. 

By moving to Cofidis, Bouhanni virtually guarantees a Tour de France ride in 2015, something Madiot denied him this year, with the French side almost certain to gain a wild card.

As reported again by Cycling News, the Frenchman does not feel the drop to the Pro Continental team will affect his ability to challenge in big races, with Cofidis benefiting from wild cards to a number of big events. 

Bringing with him colleagues Geoffrey Soupe, Adrien Petit and Dominique Rollin from FDJ, Bouhanni will be surrounded by people he knows and trusts, ensuring we will be seeing his red jersey in the mix at the finish line.

Without doubt the blockbuster deal of the year has seen "The Terminator" Peter Sagan join Tinkoff-Saxo from the now defunct Cannondale team.

Three successive Tour de France green jerseys have proved the Slovakian all-rounder is one of the most feared riders in the professional peloton and now he moves to a team with the financial clout to match his ambitions.

The Tour sprint crowns are all well and good, but Sagan has his sights set on adding an elusive Classics win to his palmares in 2015.

As pointed out by VeloNews, Tinkoff already have one of the deepest General Classification squads on the World Tour, but Sagan's arrival adds spice to their one-day lineups. 

Sagan told VeloNews earlier in the year that he felt the pressure to add a Northern Classic to his resume, recording a sixth-place finish at Paris-Roubaix and a disappointing 16th in the Tour of Flanders in 2014.

But Sagan possesses the star-power that no other riders on this list can come close to—something team owner Oleg Tinkov craves.

The Russian has finally got his man.