Having just returned from a fantastic grand tour debut that saw him finish second in two stages, Tim Wellens has extended his contract with Lotto Belisol. The talented Belgian will now stay with his team until the end of the 2015 season.

Tim Wellens has extended his contract with Lotto Belisol with one year, until the end of 2015. The now 23-year-old rider made the transfer from the U23 team of Lotto Belisol to the pro team on the 1st of July 2012.

He made a strong start in the WorldTour peloton, because in October of that year Tim finished on the tenth place in the overall classification of the Tour of Beijing. Last season he continued his growth with among other a remarkable Critérium du Dauphiné.

This year he made his début in a Grand Tour, by participating in the Giro. Wellens finihed second twice, in the sixth and seventeenth stage. He also showed himself in the Ardennes classics this spring.
 
“It all began when I joined the Lotto Cycling Project a few years ago," Wellens said. "From that moment on I worked together with Energy Lab, among other with trainer Paul Van Den Bosch. After my time in the U23 team I got a pro contract with Lotto Belisol halfway 2012.

"As a young Belgian you can’t be part of a better team. I get a very nice race programme and they offer  me a lot of opportunities. The team makes sure I don’t go in overdrive and limits the amount of race days. Lotto Belisol gives me time to grow. That were the main reasons to extend my contract.”
 
Of course manager Marc Sergeant is delighted with the contract extension.

“It was and still is the intention that we would see a positive evolution in the performances of Tim, individually on the one hand, but definitely also in function of the team," he said. "And I think I can say he confirms what we expected of him.

"At our team he gets the opportunity to grow step by step and at some points he has even set big steps. That was shown during the Ardennes classics and the Giro. His offensive style of racing, which everybody loves, offers him opportunities. The two second places are nice rewards. The next years we’ll have to see together with him where his possibilities lie, in one day races and stage races.

"As a team I think the development of Tim is a prototype example of how we can form Belgian riders. Thanks to the efforts of the National Lottery to support cycling in Belgium in all its facets and to set up projects like the Lotto Cycling Project and our U23 team, the best young riders get the opportunity to make the move to the WorldTour team. A very nice example of the concretization of one of the pillars of our vision.”