Dylan van Baarle (29)’s contract with INEOS expires at the end of this year. Several top teams are chasing his signature. The Dutch Jumbo-Visma team is on pole position.
You can bet your house on it. Fifty kilometers before the finish in the Tour of Flanders, somewhere between the Paterberg and the Koppenberg, he goes. Secretly, in an unguarded moment. Dylan van Baarle has made it a tradition in the Ronde in recent years; his attacks led him to several places of honor, culminating in second place in the edition a few weeks ago.
In this way, Van Baarle also finished second at the World Championships in Leuven last year and he won the semi-classic Dwars door Vlaanderen with it. But he also finished several times in the top 10 of the final classifications in smaller stage races and he dragged tens of kilometers in the lead of the pack in the service of others in large laps. He is one of the most all-round riders in the peloton – and it is not for nothing that various top teams are hunting for his signature.
Van Baarle’s contract with INEOS expires at the end of this year. He has an offer to extend his contract, but he also has other options, including Tadej Pogacar’s UAE. But Van Baarle is conducting the most advanced negotiations with Team Jumbo-Visma. That team has been interested in Van Baarle for years. To further strengthen the classic core around Wout van Aert, but also as a rider who can handle stage races. Furthermore, it is certainly not bad for a Dutch team with a Dutch main sponsor and a large-scale plan to stimulate Dutch cycling that Van Baarle has a Dutch passport. He also drove in the past with the Rabobank training team, where he worked together with various staff members who now work at Jumbo-Visma.
In all likelihood, the knot will be cut in the short term. Van Baarle himself will be at the start of Paris-Roubaix next Sunday.
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