Edoardo Affini extends with Team Visma | Lease a Bike through 2029

Edoardo Affini will remain with Team Visma | Lease a Bike through the end of the 2029 season after signing a three-year contract extension.

The 30-year-old Italian has been with the team since 2021 and has developed into one of its most dependable riders across Grand Tours, Classics and team time trials, while continuing to pursue his own ambitions against the clock.

For Visma, the extension is less about retaining a headline leader and more about keeping one of the riders who make the wider structure work. Affini has become a trusted presence around the team’s GC leaders, a powerful engine in team time trials and a rider capable of bringing stability to races where positioning, control and experience matter just as much as outright results.

“I am really happy to extend my contract with the team,” Affini said. “I think these next three years show the mutual trust and confidence we have built after already working together for six years. I have found my place here, and I am looking forward to continuing to work and improve in this environment.”

Affini has become one of Visma’s most reliable Grand Tour riders

Affini’s value is easiest to understand by looking beyond his own results.

Since joining Visma in 2021, he has repeatedly been selected for major stage races where his role centres on protecting leaders, controlling breakaways, positioning the team before decisive sections and taking responsibility on flatter or more exposed terrain.

That type of rider can be difficult to replace.

The strongest Grand Tour teams are rarely built only around climbers. They also need powerful rouleurs capable of carrying the workload through flat stages, keeping leaders out of trouble and reducing the pressure placed on lighter domestiques before the mountains begin.

Affini has increasingly filled exactly that role for Visma.

His size and power make him especially useful on exposed roads and in long flat sections, but the experience accumulated over six seasons inside the same structure is just as important. He understands how the team want to race and can take responsibility without requiring constant direction from the car.

That continuity is one reason a deal through 2029 makes sense.

Time trialling remains a major part of his profile

Affini is also much more than a support rider.

He has established himself as one of the strongest individual time trial specialists in the peloton, regularly producing high-level performances against the clock and giving Visma another option whenever a stage race includes a flat or rolling test.

That ability also translates directly into team time trials.

Affini has been central to recent Visma successes in the discipline, including victories at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Tour de France. His raw power and ability to hold a precise effort become particularly valuable in a team time trial, where even small mistakes in pacing or rotation can cost significant time.

For a team that places enormous emphasis on aerodynamics, pacing and technical preparation, retaining a rider with that skill set preserves one of the most specialised pieces of the system.

Visma’s broader investment in structured race execution has also been evident in the way the team have handled the current Vuelta a España, where riders such as Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte have repeatedly been used to position Matthew Brennan before his sprint victories. ProCyclingUK looked at that wider team strength in Matthew Brennan’s remarkable Vuelta debut is becoming much bigger than two stage wins.

Visma see Affini as a culture carrier

Head of Racing Marc Reef described Affini as much more than a rider valued solely for his physical output.

“Edoardo has become an important pillar of our team,” Reef said. “He is a rider who combines exceptional physical qualities with experience, intelligence and a strong sense of responsibility.”

Reef also highlighted Affini’s role within the group, describing him as a source of calm and quality and a rider who has become a genuine culture carrier for the team.

That language is significant.

Teams often use long-term contracts to secure leaders or young riders whose market value is expected to rise. Affini’s extension reflects something slightly different. Visma already know exactly what he provides and are choosing to preserve it.

That kind of institutional continuity matters in a team operating across multiple Grand Tours and one-day programmes every season.

Classics support remains another key role

Affini’s usefulness also extends naturally into the Classics.

His power, positioning and ability to ride long periods at the front make him particularly valuable in races where controlling the approach to cobbled sectors or exposed sections can be as important as the final attack itself.

He may not enter the biggest Classics as a primary favourite, but riders like Affini can determine whether a team leader reaches the decisive finale in a good position and with enough support left around them.

Visma’s Classics structure has repeatedly depended on having enough strength around riders such as Wout van Aert to keep control when races become chaotic. Affini provides exactly that type of support while still possessing enough ability to take his own opportunities when circumstances allow.

Reef specifically highlighted that flexibility, noting that Affini brings the same professionalism whether working for a leader in a Grand Tour, supporting the team in the Classics or pursuing his own goals.

The extension keeps another experienced core rider in place

Visma’s long-term planning increasingly combines younger riders with a stable group of experienced professionals who understand the team’s methods.

Affini fits firmly into the second category.

At 30, he is entering the years where experience can become just as valuable as further physical development. His role does not depend on becoming dramatically stronger every season. It depends on maintaining the power that already makes him valuable while using his accumulated race knowledge even more effectively.

A contract through 2029 means Visma are backing him to remain an important part of that structure into his early thirties.

That is especially useful as the team continues integrating younger riders into Grand Tours and Classics squads. Experienced riders capable of reading races and organising team-mates can reduce the pressure placed on those making the step up.

The contrast with Brennan at the Vuelta is useful. Brennan is learning how to win Grand Tour stages at 21. Affini represents the other end of the process, a rider whose value comes increasingly from knowing how to help a team execute complex plans across three weeks.

Visma’s roster planning continues well beyond its star names

Affini’s extension is another reminder that successful roster building is not only about retaining the obvious leaders.

Visma’s long-term strength depends on keeping enough riders around them who can cover multiple roles. Affini can contribute in Grand Tours, Classics, stage races and team time trials without requiring the programme to be shaped around him.

That flexibility is particularly valuable over a full WorldTour season.

A rider who can protect a GC leader in July, help organise a Classics squad in April and still target his own time trial result later in the year gives a team several different reasons to retain him.

Those kinds of renewals rarely generate the same attention as the signing of a new leader, but they often have just as much influence on whether the wider structure continues to function.

Affini has found a clear place inside the Visma system

Affini’s own comments suggest stability was one of the biggest factors behind the decision.

“I have found my place here,” he said.

That may be the simplest explanation for why both sides were willing to commit for another three seasons.

Affini has enough personal quality to chase time-trial results and occasional opportunities of his own, but his broader value comes from fitting seamlessly into one of the most structured teams in the peloton.

Visma know how to use him. Affini understands what is expected. The relationship has already lasted six seasons and both sides clearly see little reason to disrupt it.

The extension will also be reflected in ProCyclingUK’s cycling transfers coverage, which tracks the major confirmed moves and contract renewals shaping the 2027 and beyond market.

For Visma, the deal means keeping one of their most reliable Grand Tour and Classics engines.

For Affini, it means continuing in an environment where his role has become increasingly clear and increasingly important.