Pascal Eenkhoorn, Lennard Hofstede, Timo Roosen and Christoph Pfingsten have all signed contract extensions with Jumbo-Visma, the Dutch WorldTour team has announced, while Paul Martens will retire midway through next season.
Jumbo-Visma have developed into arguably the strongest team in professional cycling right now. It remains to be seen whether Primoz Roglic or Tom Dumoulin are capable of overhauling the hitherto dominant Ineos Grenadiers at this year's Tour de France, but Wout van Aert won Wednesday's fifth stage of the race, and looks set to be one of the big favourites for the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix later this season, having already won Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo this year.
"Within this team I can develop step by step," said 23-year-old Eenkhoorn, who's currently in his third year with the team, in a press release. "I have a nice race programme, and the goal is, and remains, to win races, both individually and with the team. I am very happy that I will also be riding with this Dutch, attractive and close-knit team for the next two years."
Twenty-five-year-old Hofstede also praised the family feel of the team, and said that he was looking forward to improving his climbing.
"This team feels like a close-knit family, and the values of the team are very much in line with my personality," said the Dutchman. "I want to continue to develop myself in the upcoming years. I hope to make a step up when it comes to riding uphill, among other things. That's why I'm in the right place with this team. Thanks to Team Jumbo-Visma, I can get the best out of myself."
Roosen will start his seventh season with the WorldTour team next season, having also previously been with the team's Rabobank development squad.
"The fact that I'll also be riding for Team Jumbo-Visma in the coming years feels great," the 27-year-old Dutch rider said. "Both parties are pleased, and hopefully we can continue the upward trend of recent years in the coming period."
Roosen, Hofstede and Eenkhoorn have all signed two-year contract extensions, while Pfingsten has signed for a year.
"From the start I was well integrated into this group," said 32-year-old German rider Pfingsten, who joined the team this year from Bora-Hansgrohe. "I don't just get along with the riders – I also get along with all the staff members. That's very important to me, and I have a very good feeling with this team."
Additionally, Pfingsten's compatriot Paul Martens, 36, who signed for an additional year at the end of last season, has now signed a contract extension with the team that will keep him there as a rider until the middle of next season. Martens was set to retire at the end of this season, but has decided to push the end of his racing career back a little more.
"It was a conscious choice to consider this year my last. However, the coronavirus crisis caused some doubt, and I reconsidered my decision to quit so that I can end my career in a dignified way," Martens explained, who's been with the team since 2008, when it was sponsored by Rabobank.
"I'm very happy that the team gave me the opportunity to continue for half a season. I look forward to, hopefully, being able to ride the most beautiful races such as the Ardennes Classics and the Giro d'Italia two more times," he said, with the spring races having been postponed to autumn this year, "as in that way I can end my career in a beautiful way."
As announced in June, Maarten Wynants is also on a short 2021 contract, and will retire following next season's Paris-Roubaix to become a sports director on the team, while Laurens De Plus, Taco van der Hoorn, Bert-Jan Lindeman and Amund Grøhndahl Jansen – the latter currently riding the Tour de France – will leave the team, according to the press release, and Tom Leezer will retire at the end of the season.
The announced contract extensions will complete Jumbo-Visma's 2021 roster, the team said.
