'From nobody to somebody' – How Luca Guercilena convinced Trek to buy a pro team – Book extract

Luca Guercilena, the manager of the Lidl-Trek team, has written an autobiography that looks back at his extraordinary life as a young cyclist, coach, directeur sportif and now manager with one of the sports super teams.    

Guercilena dedicated his book to his family but also "to all those who helped me stay alive." He has battled against an aggressive lymphoma since 2021, going through multiple cycles of chemotherapy but is again working full time as team manager of Lidl-Trek.  

The book was written with the help of Italian journalist Pier Augusto Stagi and is called Da zero a uno – 'From nobody to somebody'. It does not focus on Guercilena's fight against cancer but is the story of his life and an example to anyone of how hard work and persistence is always rewarding.

Guercilena recalls humble beginnings in the suburbs of Milan, how his lack of cycling talent led him to become an excellent coach. He worked with the then-innovative Mapei development team, the Mapei pro team and then stayed on with Patrick Lefevere. In 2011, he agreed to work for the Leopard Trek team created with funding from Luxembourg businessman Flavio Becca and helped save the team in 2013, creating what today is the combined Lidl-Trek men's and women's team.  

Guercilena's family, friends and colleagues attended the book presentation in Monza on the eve of Milan-San Remo, including Fabian Cancellara, who recalled how he started his career with Guercilena at the Mapei development team and ended it with an Olympic gold medal in the time trial in Rio de Janeiro with Guercilena as his coach and mentor.

The book is only available in Italian but Guercilena and Stagi agreed to Cyclingnews translating and publishing an extract of the book.

It covers the 2013 season, after a painful fusion with Lance Armstrong's Radioshack team in 2012 and then the Texan's lifetime ban for doping.

Guercilena was asked to take over as team manager and convinced second sponsor Nissan to pay their agreed sponsorship fee despite not wanting to stay on the team's jersey. In the spring of 2013, Guercilena travelled to Trek's headquarters in Wisconsin and convinced the bike brand to buy the team.  

An extract from 'Da zero a uno' by Luca Guercilena and Pier Augusto Stagi

We started the 2013 season well and immediately won Harelbeke, Flanders and Roubaix with Fabian Cancellara. He is clearly the undisputed leader of the team, also because at the same time Andy Schleck began to have serious problems with his knee after a crash.  

Inside the group, there is a different vibe, a family atmosphere has returned that makes both the riders and the staff euphoric. We are strong and compact. But if on the one hand there's great awareness of being back at the top of cycling, there is also a sword of Damocles hanging over all of our heads: we are at the end credits of a film. We know that Flavio Becca will end his funding. Riders and staff do nothing but repeat to me "that it would really be a shame to split up such a beautiful group... ".

After Fabian's triumphant ride at Roubaix, I find myself talking about this and that with the then-Trek marketing manager Joe Vanderboncouer.

At a certain point I take the bull by the horns and tell him: "Joe, since Trek is already making a big investment in the team, I think it's right to start thinking about trying to become the owner of the team by simulating what has been happening for years in F1. Trek has to stay in the sport, become the owner of the team and then find and involve sponsors in the project."

I remember that Joe listens to me the whole time in silence and at the end he says: "The thing is interesting. But the accounting books must be in order: only then do we submit the idea to John Burke [the president of Trek]."

Two days later I left for Luxembourg to meet Flavio Becca. Certain things are better discussed face to face.

I explain the project to him which at the moment is just an idea, even if the possibility that Trek could take over the entire team is concrete. At first, Becca appears very skeptical, then he understands that it is possible. During the Giro d’Italia, I fly to the United States to meet Mr. Trek himself: John Burke.

I remember arriving at his place all dressed up in my best suit and feeling a sense of excitement I’d never felt before. He welcomed me in a white shirt, jeans and sneakers and looked at me before saying: "Are you going to a wedding?"

I wanted to disappear, sink into hell forever. I stammered something like: "My mother taught me that when you go to meet important people you dress smart." He smiles, puts a hand on my shoulder and leads me to his office.

We talk for almost an hour, and Burke listens to me and Joe in religious silence until he says: "Joe, let’s take a week and then give him an answer."

I cheekily replied: "Please give me an answer before the Tour de France. I have to be sure that the team is being built, because if it isn’t, I have a duty to be clear and fair with the staff and the riders. I have to put them in a position to find a new job."

On June 26, 2013, three days before the start of the Tour de France in Corsica, John Burke called me.

"Luca, we are willing to take over the team and move forward, but only on one condition.”

What? 

"That you manage the team for us."

Recklessly, I accepted. Two hours later, Trek announced to the world that it would take over Flavio Becca’s team. My cycling adventure continued.

Da zero a uno is available on Amazon in Italy.