Boels Dolmans announced Tuesday that it has extended contracts with Belgian sprinter Jolien D'hoore, for one year, and Luxembourg champion Christine Majerus, for two years. The team signed a four-year deal with new title sponsor SD Worx that will begin in 2021.
"I didn't hesitate when the team offered me a new contract. Even though I'm the only Belgian in this Dutch team, I have always felt right at home. I am proud that SDWorx will be our new main sponsor," D'hoore said in a team announcement.
Boels Dolmans announced in February that they have secured a four-year contract with a new title sponsor that will financially back the team through 2024. The payroll and human resources provider, SD Worx, will take over title sponsorship of the Dutch women’s team in January.
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The team also announced that Olympic champion and former world champion Anna van der Breggen will retire at the end of the 2021 season and become a sports director. Likewise, former world champion Chantal van den Broeck-Blaak will retire in 2022 and become a director.
D'hoore and Majerus are the next riders to sign extended contracts with the team under SD Worx, after the team announced that European champion Amy Pieters and Lonneke Uneken also previously re-signed their contracts.
Majerus has been a staple on the Boels Dolmans team for the last six seasons. She is the team's road captain and a super-domestique, who spends day-in and day-out in a support role. She also frequently features in the finales of races and has won 23 national championship titles, and two stages of the Women's Tour [of Britain], Dwars door de Westhoek, La Classique Morbihan twice and the overall title at the Boels Ladies Tour.
"Christine has been an invaluable asset to the team since 2014," said team manager Danny Stam. "She is an excellent team player and a true professional who is always willing to support others. And when she's in a situation where she has a chance of winning, she'll make that happen, too. Her victory at the Boels Ladies Tour last year is a perfect example of this. There's also the fact that every winter, she finishes as one of the best in a large number of cyclo-cross events."
D'hoore has a total of 46 career victories and joined Boels Dolmans in 2019. In her first season with the team she won a stage of Emakumeen Bira, two stages of the OVO Energy Women's Tour, but suffered a broken elbow after crashing in the opening stage at the BeNe Ladies Tour in July.
"Last year, Jolien suffered a broken collarbone and elbow, and this season she has not been able to prove herself yet because of the coronavirus pandemic," Stam said. "I know for sure that she is eager to excel next year in the colours of our main sponsor, SD Worx from Belgium. I am expecting a number of great wins from her on the road. She will focus on the Flemish events in the spring, and after April she will start working towards the Olympic Games in Tokyo."
D’hoore won the bronze medal for the Omnium at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. She has also been very successful in the Madison discipline with Lotte Kopecky in recent years winning European Championships (2016) and World Championships (2017).
D'hoore said she will focus on the Madison at the postponed Tokyo Olympic Games next summer. "My chances of a medal are greatest in the Madison, so that discipline is my absolute priority. At the Olympics, we will see who is the strongest at that particular time – Lotte or myself – to compete in the Omnium."
