Thomas De Gendt extends his contract with Lotto Soudal

Thomas De Gendt has reached a verbal agreement on a contract extension for two years, reports Het Laatste Nieuws. The current contract of the 35-year-old Belgian expired after this season, but after his stage victory in this year's Giro d'Italia, he is still keen to continue. “It's going well again and that automatically triggers the desire," he said.

“It gives me the chance to decide where and when to stop. Do I finish the contract - which is my initial goal? Or will I feel next year that 'it has been enough now'? In that case, I can always keep the honor to myself," De Gendt said. "If I turn out to be a good performer after all, the third option is to add another year. But I will be 38 by then. I won't stay in the peloton forever either.”

De Gendt says that he still enjoys cycling too much to think about quitting. ”I still enjoy doing this. It's a clean world I live in. Races, training camps, and long training sessions, in whatever weather, are not a burden yet. If I have the legs for it, I want to take my chances. That is less and less the case anyway. I used to sneak into the breakaway 25 times a year, but now I have only four. Of which I already successfully completed one.” he said.

De Gendt's Giro stage victory was one of the highlights of the season for Lotto Soudal, and a much needed win for the Belgian to show his worth against the emerging generations that have rivaled him in his preferred terrain.