Affini is in his second year as a professional cyclist with Mitchelton-Scott and will transfer to Team Jumbo-Visma in 2021. The Italian won the bronze medal at the European time trial championship in Alkmaar last year. Affini is the third new rider for Team Jumbo-Visma, after Gijs Leemreize and David Dekker were previously contracted.

Sportive director Merijn Zeeman sees an important role for Affini in the selection. “We always like to add a rider like Affini to our team. Edoardo will assist Wout van Aert in the classics and he will get a place in the sprint train of Dylan Groenewegen. In addition, he is a talented time trialist. The team will certainly help him to get even better in that discipline. We think that with our guidance he can develop into a world class time trial rider.”

Affini is happy with his transfer. “When Team Jumbo-Visma called, I knew this was a great opportunity. This is a good step for me. The conversations with the team showed that they have a lot of confidence in me. I can develop well here and that is very important to me. There are a number of very experienced riders from whom I can learn a lot. I’m in my second year as a pro, but this season is of course very special. Hopefully from next season on I will experience great moments in the shirt of Team Jumbo-Visma.”