Wout van Aert and Jumbo-Visma reportedly close to agreeing contract extension
The Belgian superstar had been linked with a potential move to Ineos Grenadiers
Wout van Aert looks to be close to signing an extension to his contract with Dutch team, Jumbo-Visma after being one of the most successful riders of the 2020 season.
Van Aert had been linked with British super-team Ineos Grenadiers, but then again, the list of top riders who have been linked with them grows day by the day thanks to their superior financial muscle.
Wielerflits reports that the CEO of Dutch supermarket, Jumbo, Ton van Veen said in a new year meeting: "Wout van Aert is praised by the Belgians. I can reveal that we are in talks with the Jumbo-Visma cycling team to extend his contract.
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"He still has a commitment for this year, but we want to keep him with us for longer. Those negotiations look very good. We will hear that in the coming days and we are very happy with that.
"Van Aert is very important to us for building brand awareness in Belgium. And loading the Jumbo brand in Belgium."
Jumbo is very keen to keep Van Aert as they are looking to open more stores in Belgium and want the nation's current top rider to be the face of its adverts.
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Van Aert had an incredible season in 2020, winning stages in the Tour de France as well as showing some amazing climbing ability. Victories at Milan-San Remo and Strade Bianche as well second places in both the road race and time trial World Championships and at the Tour of Flanders cemented a monumental year for the 26-year-old.
The superstar rider has looked at changing his style of riding after his impressive climbing performances at the Tour de France. While he wants to aim for all the Classics as well as the green jersey at the Tour, he also wants to target week-long stage races like Tirreno-Adriatico.
Since his exceptional 2020, Van Aert's price tag has jumped up quite considerably meaning that few teams can afford his salary.
Ineos Grenadiers are probably the only team that can comfortably invest in the rider along with UAE Team Emirates, but Jumbo-Visma are trying to tie the Belgian down for 2022.
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Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!
I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.
After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.
When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.
My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.
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