After the team's successful Giro d'Italia, Trek-Segafredo announced they have agreed to keep Dutch baroudeur Bauke Mollema through 2026.
It's a huge contract for a 35-year-old, who has been with Trek-Segafredo for eight seasons.
"I have felt really happy here since the very beginning, and I still can't imagine being anywhere else," Mollema said in a press release. "I am really looking forward to staying with this team for the next few years."
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Mollema began his career with the Rabobank team and remained with that organisation for seven seasons before moving to Trek-Segafredo in 2015. Although he started as a Grand Tour contender, having landed on the podium of the Vuelta a España in 2011, Mollema transitioned to a freer role in the past few years.
"As everyone knows, my role has changed a little bit in the last years, and it will probably change more over the next few years. When I came to this team it was mainly as a GC rider, targeting the Tour in particular. After doing that for many years, I started to focus on one-day races and more recently, hunting stages in Grand Tours. I like that role and maybe, at this moment in my career, it fits me a bit better than going for the GC," Mollema stated.
"Now, we have young riders who are better able than me to go for the GC in Grand Tours, and I see another part of my role as acting as somewhat of a mentor for them. I have a lot of experience that I hope to be able to share with them and advice that I can give to help them in the future."
During the Giro d'Italia, Mollema supported Juan Pedro López during his ten-day spell in the maglia rosa, and was on the attack on several stages, coming second to Koen Bouwman (Jumbo-Visma) on stage 7 to Potenza.
During his time with Trek-Segafredo, Molleman has won two stages of the Tour de France (2017, 2021) and the Clasica San Sebastian (2016) and Il Lombardia (2019) with the team.
"Fighting for the GC at the Tour de France in 2015 and finishing 7th is also a good memory," Mollema added. "The same goes for the 2016 Tour when I was close to the podium until I crashed in the last days, and my Giro d'Italia of 2019. What I like most is the wonderful partnership I have with the team. I have some freedom here, which is important to me as a rider."
Whether or not this will be the last contract of his career remains to be seen but Mollema said he would like to close out his time as a professional rider with Trek-Segafredo.
"After this contract, I will have been here 12 years already, which is already a really long time. I am happy with the confidence the team and the sponsors have shown in me with such a long contract. I don't think that happens a lot for riders of my age," explained Mollema.
"At the moment, it's quite likely this will be my last contract, but who knows what I will be thinking after four years. I've always said that I still feel quite young. I've been a professional for 15 years, but I still really like what I do. I like to train hard. I like to race. I like to be competitive and get the best out of my body; I am constantly trying to improve and setting new goals for myself, even now."
