Team Visma – Lease a Bike has announced Belgian star cyclist Wout van Aert and the team have entered into a lifelong contract
Team Visma – Lease a Bike today proudly announced it has secured the services of Belgian star rider Wout van Aert for the rest of his career as a professional cyclist. Van Aert has signed a contract, which ensures he will remain with Team Visma – Lease a Bike until he quits professional cycling.
It is the first time in professional cycling a team signs a cyclist on a lifelong contract and the decision clearly indicates van Aert’s significant value for the Visma – Lease a Bike team, which is currently sponsored by Visma Business Software, and Lease a Bike – the bike mobility division of the world’s largest bike manufacturer PON, which leases bikes to employees and companies across Europe and is currently considering entering the British market for bike leasing.
In addition to Wout van Aert, the Visma-Lease a Bike team is also home to former Tour de France Champion Jonas Vingegaard, who admirably fought his way to a second-place finish in this year’s Tour de France, despite suffering a serious crash and multiple fractures in early April at Itzulia Basque Country.
The Visma-Lease a Bike team (Then Jumbo-Visma) showed significant dominance over professional cycling when it won all three Grand Tours in the 2023 season, but has since experienced increasing competition from other teams, such as Team Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe, which signed former Jumbo-Visma rider Primoz Roglic before the 2024 season and has received significant funding from Red Bull – the energy drink manufacturer, which is known to be very active in the sports sponsorships sphere.
Van Aert has ridden for the Visma team since 2019 and is said to hold the epitome of the team’s much-admired culture. Van Aert has won Milano-San Remo, Amstel Gold Race, Strade Bianche, Gent-Wevelgem, and no less than nine Tour de France stages, and three Vuelta a Espana stages (this year). Van Aert also claimed bronze in in the time trial event of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“The decision to sign a rider on a career-long contract is unique in our sport, but neither van Aert, nor we, had to contemplate for long,” Team Visma-Lease a Bike CEO Richard Plugge proudly explained to Roadcycling.com. “Before, van Aert only had a contract with us through the 2026 season, but now we get to keep him forever.”
“Wout has actually become an important culture carrier and an indispensable link within our team.”
“Wout van Aert is obviously a fantastic rider with a great palmares. He is an all-rounder: a sprinter, a classics rider, a time trial expert, and on his best days he can also win mountain stages like his famous victory on Mont Ventoux,” Plugge explained.
“I didn’t have to consider the proposal for long, when the idea came up,” van Aert happily told Roadcycling.com. “In our team we work with the best people and the best bike equipment. Together we are constantly looking for improvements, which means we keep developing both individually and as a team.”
“The team is unique and has suited me optimally for five years now and I want to keep it this way. That’s why I’ve decided to stay here forever, and it feels really good,” van Aert concluded.
Hopefully van Aert will remain motivated and top tuned despite having secured a lifetime contract and his teammates won’t grow tired of the Belgian powerhouse, though at this point van Aert is continuing to impress in the top races of pro cycling.
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