Battle for Wout van Aert’s Signature

Team Jumbo Visma is hopeful that it can extend the contract with Wout van Aert within a few weeks as Ineos are reportedly after his signature on a contract.

Battle for Wout van Aert’s Signature

Source: https://www.wielerflits.nl

Team Jumbo Visma is hopeful that it can extend the contract with Wout van Aert within a few weeks. However, it has now also become clear that INEOS Grenadiers is in the market to acquire Wout van Aert after 2021.

The British team had a first meeting with Van Aert’s management during the last Tour de France. Sir Dave Brailsford was enthusiastic about the opportunity to recruit the Belgian superstar. WielerFlits has confirmed that INEOS Grenadiers and Van Aert are still talking to each other.

Wout van Aert still has a contract with Team Jumbo Visma until the end of 2021. The Belgian is enjoying himself with the Dutch formation and has already indicated that he would like to break open his contract.

However, it is also clear that after this super season there will be a different price tag around Van Aert’s neck. In this Corona season, he won Milan-Sanremo, Strade Bianche, two stages in the Tour de France, a stage in the Dauphiné and the Belgian time trial. He also finished second at the World Championship on the road, the World Championship time trial and in the Tour of Flanders.

Brailsford was already in talks with Van Aert in 2018 about a transition to Team Sky. At the time, it was already clearly indicated to the Kempenaar that the combination cyclocross / road cycling would not be a problem at all. This has recently been proven with the recruitment of Tom Pidcock.

Just like Van Aert, Pidcock also has a personal sponsorship contract with Red Bull. In the summer of 2018, however, Van Aert opted for Jumbo-Visma. This was also because the negotiations with the British team went quite slowly, while the Dutch team wanted to do business with the Belgian at the time.

Van Aert has already indicated several times in the media that he feels at home at Jumbo-Visma.

However, his personal ambitions must continue to fit within the goals of the team. For example, the 26-year-old rider no longer makes it a secret that the green jersey in the Tour de France is one of his goals in the coming years. Whether that fits with the yellow dream and the closed course of the supermarket team is a question mark. Van Aert’s management will discuss this with the sporting management of Jumbo-Visma in these weeks.

And of course Jumbo-Visma already has quite a few expensive guys. Primoz Roglic, Tom Dumoulin, Steven Kruijswijk and Dylan Groenewegen are big earners and will be fixed in the coming years.

In addition, the price of many riders of the second plan, including Sepp Kuss and George Bennett, has been increased by their performances in recent months.
INEOS Grenadiers, on the other hand, has the largest budget in the pack. In 2019, the team would already have a budget of almost 51 million euros. Brailsford is therefore able to pay Van Aert by far the highest salary of the WorldTour peloton. However, Jumbo supermarket will have an increasing importance in the Belgian market in the coming years, so retaining Van Aert is essential. That is why it would not be surprising if Jumbo makes extra budget available to keep the Belgian sportsman from 2020.

Pic: Getty Images