Van Winden extends contract with team LottoNL-Jumbo
Dutchman Dennis van Winden extended his contract with Team LottoNL-Jumbo through the following 2016 season. He will continue to lead the yellow and black train in bunch sprints.
“Dennis van Winden signs a one-year contract extension,” sports director, Nico Verhoeven explained. “We didn’t extend the contracts of Laurens ten Dam, Rick Flens, Barry Markus and Brian Bulgac on the other hand.
“Dennis returned with our team in April and had a tough period in the beginning. That isn’t odd when you consider that he didn’t start this season as a fulltime professional. He showed a very high level in the second part of this season. He gave us the confirmation in the Tour of Poland and the Vuelta a España. Our sprinters valued him highly as he is important element in the lead-out of the bunch sprints.”
Dream scenario
“I’m very glad to extend with LottoNL-Jumbo,” Van Winden said. “This is a dream scenario for me. It’s great that I have been able to return at this level, and so quickly. The difference between the continental level and the WorldTour is enormous, and I have bridged it.
“I’ve been back on my bike only since January. It’s easy to improve in the first part of your rehabilitation, until you’re back at seventy per cent it goes quickly, but it’s becomes quite hard after that point. I faced that during the Tour of California, but it went well afterwards.
“It was important that I finished the Vuelta. That was the final step for me. I realised that I’m part of a beautiful team and I want to use my experience to support Moreno Hofland and Tom van Asbroeck in the sprints.”
