Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this essentially boil down to whether or not Van Aert's contract with Vérandas Willems–Crelan automatically became a contract with Roompot-Crelan/Charles after the merger with Roompot? It appears the judge ruled that it didn't…
Also interesting to note that when teams merge there are often riders left hanging, even though they technically had a contract (as seen most recently with Harry Tanfield), forcing them to scramble for a new team, sometimes quite late. However, in this case the team obviously wanted to keep Van Aert, but he didn't want to stay with what was essentially a new team.
Also interesting to note that when teams merge there are often riders left hanging, even though they technically had a contract (as seen most recently with Harry Tanfield), forcing them to scramble for a new team, sometimes quite late. However, in this case the team obviously wanted to keep Van Aert, but he didn't want to stay with what was essentially a new team.