Simon Yates will ride for Visma-Lease a Bike from 2025 after he signed a two-year contract.
Several top teams including Ineos Grenadiers were interested in Yates after it became known that the Brit was looking for a new environment. He has been riding for the Australian Jayco AlUla for eleven years, where he made his professional debut in 2014.
His twin brother Adam left for Ineos Grenadiers in 2021 and later to UAE Emirates and improved in results. That was also a motivation for Simon to try it with a bigger team, that’s why Visma-Lease a Bike was preferred over the proposal from Israel-Premier Tech.
“We are very pleased that we have been able to convince someone with such a record to choose us,” says Grischa Niermann. “He is an absolute reinforcement for our grand tour team. Simon will have the opportunity to go for results himself, but he will also be a valuable asset to the team in the mountains. We believe that he can reach an even higher level thanks to our way of working.”
Yates had a clear goal for his transfer: to improve himself.
“This is a team that I have admired for a long time and the opportunity to join them was something I could not ignore. Despite the great time I had with my current team, I felt that it was time to change teams to continue to improve myself and get the most out of myself. I am looking forward to meeting all the new teammates and staff and starting 2025 well.”
Yates was unable to fulfil his GC ambitions at the Tour de France but he had a few breakaway attempts in the final week, which led to a second place behind Richard Carapaz in SuperDévoluy and a third place behind Tadej Pogacar and Matteo Jorgenson at Isola 2000.
