Born in Sint-Truiden, Wellens has competed as a professional since the middle of the 2012 season,[6] joining the Lotto–Belisol team after three seasons with the squad's development team.
2012 season
Wellens made his début with the team at the GP José Dubois, where he finished eighth; he later made his first appearances on the UCI World Tour, by competing in the Canadian pair of races in Quebec, and Montreal attempting to bridge to each race's breakaway during the respective events.[7][8] Wellens performed strongly in the season-ending Tour of Beijing, finishing each of the race's stages inside the top 25 placings – taking a best of fifth on the final stage – en route to a final overall placing of tenth,[9][10] and second to Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank rider Rafał Majka in the young rider classification.[11]
In August 2014, Wellens won Stage 6 in the Eneco Tour with a solo breakaway.[12] The time he gained on this stage meant he ultimately won the race overall.
2015 season
He was named in the start list for the Tour de France.[13] At the Eneco Tour, on Stage 6 Wellens attacked on the Côte Saint-Roch, then won nine seconds in the sprints in the golden kilometre. The main group was not able to chase Wellens down and his lead extended during the downhill run into Houffalize; he won the stage by 49 seconds ahead of Greg Van Avermaet, with Simon Geschke third. Wellens moved into the overall lead, 1' 03" ahead of Van Avermaet, with Wilco Kelderman dropping to third.[14] Wellens defended his lead on the final stage to win his second successive Eneco Tour.
2016 season
At the Giro d'Italia, Wellens won Stage 6 after joining the successful breakaway partway through the stage. In July 2016, Wellens won Stage 5 of the Tour de Pologne with a solo breakaway in a rain soaked stage in which 85 riders abandoned.[15] This gave him a lead of over 4 minutes in the general classification, which he successfully defended to the end of the race.
2017 season
Wellens abandoned Stage 15 of the Tour de France because of heat and pollen allergies which he refused to treat with a therapeutic use exemption (TUE), which he does not approve to use.[16] Despite having asthma, Wellens does not use an inhaler and also criticised Chris Froome during his salbutamol case.
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