FILE PHOTO: Cycling - Vuelta a Espana - Stage 7 - Archidona to Cordoba - Spain - August 23, 2024 Team Visma | Lease A Bike's Wout Van Aert celebrates while wearing the points jersey on the podium after winning stage 7 REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo
(Reuters) - Belgian rider Wout van Aert has signed a unique agreement with Visma-Lease a bike to stay with the team for the rest of his career, the Dutch cycling team said on Wednesday.
Van Aert who joined Visma in 2019 and recorded major wins with the team including nine Tour de France stages and three Vuelta a Espana stages, extended his contract which was set to expire in 2026.
"This is unique in our sport, but we both didn't have to think long about that," Richard Plugge, CEO of Team Visma-Lease a Bike said on Wednesday.
Van Aert said he feels at home with Visma and wants to continue that relationship forever.
"I didn't have to think long when this idea came up. First of all, because at Team Visma-Lease a Bike we work with the best people and the best equipment," Van Aert said.
"Together we are constantly looking for improvement, which means we keep developing individually but also as a team. I owe a lot of success to that, we really do it together.
"But apart from that, I feel very much at home in this team, which is very important to me. This team is unique and has suited me for five years and I want to keep it that way."
The 30-year-old has had an eventful year, suffering several fractures in a high-speed crash in Belgium's Dwars door Vlaanderen one-day race which ruled him out of many classics and the Giro d'Italia.
While he did not win any stages on the Tour de France, he was a favourite for the Vuelta when he won three stages before a crash during a descent in stage 16 ruled him out of the race.
Van Aert also won time trial bronze at the Paris Games, his second Olympic medal after a silver in the Tokyo road race three years ago.
(Reporting by Suramya Kaushik in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
