The British rider reached a new agreement, keeping him with our team until 2021.
Now in his second year in the World Tour, young and promising climber James Knox has agreed a contract extension that will see him ride for Deceuninck – Quick-Step – the most successful squad in the peloton and UCI World Team Ranking leader – for a further two years.
After a steady transition in 2018, where he took sixth place overall at the Tour de Wallonie, James has continued his adaptation to riding with a World Tour team, chalking up impressive placings in the classifications at both UAE Tour (8th) and Tour de Romandie (14th). This earned him a start in his first Grand Tour, the Giro d’Italia, which was unfortunately cut short by a knee injury.
Speaking of his new deal, James said: “I’m so chuffed to be resigning for two more years with Deceuninck – Quick-Step and it’s also a bit of a relief to know Patrick and the team are happy with what I’ve done so far! It was a dream come true when I joined the team in 2018 and honestly, it’s been even better than expected. What the team has achieved whilst I’ve been here has been truly staggering and to be a small part of some of those victories is more than I could have ever imagined.”
James also talked of his personal goals for the next seasons: “I’d like to think I’m making steady progress, and most of that is down to the team, learning from the best in the business, getting my own chances to race and just being taken care of brilliantly on all fronts. This year has been another step forward with some nice results to back up how I finished last season, and hopefully more to come for the rest of the year. We’ll see what the next two seasons bring, I’m still young and just hoping I can continue progressing for now, but I wouldn’t mind chalking up a Deceuninck – Quick-Step win for myself.”
Deceuninck – Quick-Step CEO Patrick Lefevere also expressed his satisfaction at retaining the services of the talented 23-year-old climber: “It is a great pleasure to come to an agreement with James. He has adapted to racing at World Tour level and continued to progress, especially during the early races this season. He is always looking to learn and progress and we were very keen for him to continue that progression with us for the foreseeable future.”
Photo credit: ©Justin Setterfield/ Getty Images
James Knox