Van Aert ordered to compensate former team

Cyclist Wout van Aert was ordered by a Belgian court to pay €662 000 in compensation to the Sniper Cycling team for breaking his contract in 2018, the Belga news service reported on Monday.

The country's Court of Cassation upheld an earlier ruling that Van Aert had "wrongfully terminated his employment contract".

Van Aert, a star in both road racing and cyclo-cross, unilaterally ended his contract with the Verandas Willems-Crelan team, owned by Sniper cycling, in late 2018.

By the 2019 road season he was part of the powerful Jumbo-Visma team.

Van Aert said he moved because of "serious failings" and "absolutely unacceptable practices" by his old team.

Sniper Cycling had claimed damages of 1.1 million euros. Its partial victory on Monday marked the end of a long legal saga.

Since joining his new team, now renamed Visma-Lease a Bike, Van Aert has topped the points classification in the 2022 Tour de France, and won a string of major one-day races including Milan-San Remo, the Amstel Gold and the Strade Bianchi