Italian time-trial specialist Edoardo Affini has joined Jumbo-Visma on a three-year deal. The 24-year-old turned professional with Mitchelton-Scott in 2019 and won stages in both the Tour of Norway and Tour of Britain, as well as finishing third in the European time trial championships behind Remco Evenepoel and Kasper Agreen. The Italian won the U23 version of the event in 2018.
With his contract up at Mitchelton and with Jumbo Visma looking to strengthen the core of their domestiques, Affini has moved over to the Dutch team. He is the third signing made by Jumbo-Visma in the last few weeks after Gijs Leemreize and David Dekker both joined.
The team are also set to announce the re-signing of Tony Martin in the near future, and Affini has similar traits to the German, in that he can time trial and provide cover in both the Classics and the team’s sprint leadouts.
“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,” said sports director Merijn Zeeman.
Affini was delighted to join the Dutch team for 2021. The squad already have their Grand Tour leaders, such as Primoz Roglic and Tom Dumoulin, locked down with long-term deals, so their transfer activity this year is about complimenting their already strong roster, and adding young talent that they can develop over the coming years.
“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,” Affini said.
The team are also set to unveil Sam Oomen after he was not offered a contract at Team Sunweb. It’s expected that Laurens de Plus will leave Jumbo-Visma for Ineos at the end of the year.
