Wout van Aert's Mont Ventoux stage-winning bike selling for over €13,000 as bids increase

Jumbo-Visma are auctioning 24 Cervélo bikes used by the team's biggest stars, en route to some of their most iconic wins of 2021. 

Among the bikes available to bid on is Wout van Aert's stage 11 winning machine from the 2021 Tour de France, where he attacked on the double climb of Mont Ventoux. The Belgian's bike currently has the highest bid in the auction, selling for €13,250 (over £11,300). 

However, with the top-of-the-line Cervélo R5 coming in at £11,699/$12,000/€11,999, without any history attached, this is likely to climb. 

Other notable bikes include the machine Primož Roglič used to win the Vuelta a España for the third consecutive year, the bike of Marianne Vos' Ghent-Wevelgem victory, and Tom Dumoulin's comeback machine for June's Tour de Suisse - which is the second-most expensive bike in the auction at the time of writing, with a current highest bid of €9,625 (over £8,220). 

Van Aert's race-winning bike from Amstel Gold, Ghent-Wevelgem and the Tour of Britain is also available, though for a reduced price of €7,000 (over £5,900) when compared to the aforementioned Tour de France bike. 

Jumbo-Visma are selling the bikes in order to invest in the future of the team, with a significant focus placed on their young riders in the Academy and to help their Development Team. 

Jumbo-Visma's manager Richard Plugge said in the listing: "Through this auction you can become the owner of cycling history. Last season you could only watch a spectacular stage on the Mont Ventoux during the Tour de France. But you can now buy the bicycle that Wout van Aert rode on. A total of 24 unique bicycles will be auctioned. 

"The proceeds go to the development of the team. And not only to make the leaders perform better, we mainly invest in the Team Jumbo-Visma Academy and the Development Team. 

"That is one of the most important pillars in creating a successful team and in inspiring people to start cycling."

The auction runs over the Christmas period, starting on December 17 and finishing on December 27.

While the current price for van Aert's bike seems extremely high, at least the winning bidder will have the physical bike, as opposed to the €15,598.88 someone spent on an NFT of his Mont Ventoux victory.