Wout Van Aert has gone from earning a below market value salary to making more than €2 million per year while he has also secured agreement to go for more of his own goals, including the Tour de France green jersey.
This year he will be Jumbo Visma’s
main general classification rider at Tirreno Adriatico ahead of the Tour de
France, a race where his team wants him to win green and has agreed to allow
him take aim at that classification.
This is despite the fact Jumbo Visma
has Primoz Roglic in its ranks, who led the Tour for so long last year before
finishing 2nd overall and will go into this year’s race as red hot favourite.
“That is a goal that we want to achieve together,” said Jumbo Visma sports manager Merijn Zeeman of the Tour green jersey. “We know that it is certainly within Wout's reach."
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Van Aert will also target the classics
and his team has agreed to strengthen its classics group and to consult him on
new signings, as it did recently when signing Nathan Van Hooydonck.
Van Aert, now aged 26 years, still has
one year to run on his current contract with Jumbo Visma but in recent days it
was announced he had signed a three-year contract extension.
When he signed for Jumbo Visma it was
two months into 2019 and after a messy contract and team situation.
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Van Aert had been riding for Vérandas
Willems-Crelan and that ProContinental team almost merged with, or was almost
bought by, Irish team Aqua Blue Sport.
However, after a messy period in the summer of 2018 the deal fell through and Aqua Blue Sport soon ceased operations.
Van Aert had a contract until the end of 2019 with Sniper
Cycling, which owned Veranda’s Willems-Crelan, though he eventually singed for
Jumbo Visma, from the start of March that year.
At that time he had already secured major results
including cyclocross Word Championships gold, bronze in the road race at the
Europeans and 3rd in Strade Bianche.
And while he secured a contract two years ago commensurate
with those results, his career has gone into orbit since then. He has taken three
stage wins at Critérium du Dauphiné, three in the Tour de France, two Belgian
TT titles and victories in Strade Bianche and Milan-Sanremo as well as proving
an invaluable asset for Primoz Roglic at the Tour.
Belgian newspaper Nieuwsblad has interviewed Van Aert and his management and has put his new salary in the top 10 in the sport at present, above the €2.1 million Richard Carapaz is reportedly earning at Ineos Grenadiers.
Van Aert’s deal also includes win bonuses and a €10,000aprx payment for every cyclocross race he rides, while he also has a deal with Red Bull.
His higher salary under his new contract with Jumbo Visma has been made possible by sponsor Jumbo, a supermarket chain, putting extra cash into the team. In exchange, Van Aert will record social media videos for Jumbo and will also do some other posts.
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