'We have to step up' - Lidl-Trek manager Guercilena ready to sign Tour de France contender
Lidl-Trek team aim high for Grand Tour leader, 'you can develop them in-house, or you buy them'
The Lidl-Trek men's squad confirmed their status as one of the best teams in 2024 but manager Luca Guercilena is pushing his riders to do even better in 2025 as he begins to build the roster for 2026 and beyond, with the goal to compete for overall success in the Grand Tours.
Lidl-Trek finished fourth in the 2024 UCI team rankings, behind UAE Team Emirates, Visma-Lease a Bike and Soudal-QuickStep. Guercilena expects his riders to do even better in 2025.
"I always push my riders to do well. That's my job, right?" Guercilena told Cyclingnews in an exclusive interview.
Lidl-Trek won 42 races in 2024 thanks to the sprinting power of Jonathan Milan, Classics skills of Mads Pedersen, the stage race tenacity of Mattias Skjelmose and the young, versatile talent of Thibau Nys.
Lidl joined the team mid-2023 and their significant investment allowed Guercilena to invest in the men's team, the world-class women's team and a successful men's development team. The Lidl-Trek riders and staff now total over 180, with Guercilena hiring former rider and recent UCI Head of Innovation Michael Rogers to help him manage the teams.
"We were a good team before Lidl came on board but our budget was limited. We need to strengthen the team and improve and we did that in 2023 and 2024. Now, we have to step up even more. We've got to show how good we really are," said Guercilena, who has fought a long battle against a life-threatening lymphoma but a recent check-up has given the confidence to start the 2025 season with ambition and enthusiasm.
Last week Pedersen revealed he will target the Classics and then the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España, with Jonathan Milan given the important sprinters role at the Tour de France, probably with Simone Consonni as his key lead-out man.
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Skjelmose is expected to fly the GC flag for Lidl-Trek at the Tour after his fifth place at the Vuelta. Giulio Ciccone is expected to target stages and the GC at the Giro d'Italia. Tao Geoghegan Hart will look to reboot his career before setting any major goals but is likely to ride a Grand Tour.
Nys is rapidly growing into a Ardennes Classics role alongside Andrea Bagioli and Skjelmose, while Toms Skujiņš, Quinn Simons, Jasper Styuven and Ryan Gibbons form a strong cobbled Classics core.
"We're a real team, our success doesn't depend on just one big rider. We showed that by winning 42 races with lots of different riders," Guercilena said.
"We want to be competitive in the Classics in 2025. Virtually all the Classics team was involved in the high-speed Dwars door Vlaanderen crash, so we weren't at our best at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. We hope to be healthier and do better this year and win.
"We've got to be in the action in the Tour and try to balance winning stages and the points jerseys with a good GC. We know we don't have a team leader like Tadej Pogačar but we're convinced that our riders can do well.
"We've also got Sklemose, who will have even more support this year at the Tour after his impressive Vuelta and were 100% convinced that Tao will be back to his best and so have the form he had when he won the 2020 Giro d'Italia. We've also got stage race riders like Ciccone, Juan Pedro Lopez and new signing Lennard Kämna who is recovering from his terrible training accident. We're a team of many talents."
Signing a Grand Tour leader to become a true 'super team'
If Lidl-Trek is to be considered a true 'super team', Guercilena knows they have to fight for the podium in Grand Tours and especially at the Tour de France in the years to come. Supermarket chain Lidl expects significant visibility across Europe for its investment and success at the Tour is the best way to satisfy them.
In 2025, Pedersen will lead the strong Classics squad and Milan will target the sprints, the first yellow jersey In Lille and the points jersey at the Tour de France. But Guercilena is carefully monitoring the Grand Tour rider market. He knows that Remco Evenepoel's contract ends after the 2026 season, and perhaps knows the contract status of Juan Ayuso and a dozen other possible targets.
"There are two ways to have a Grand Tour leader - you can develop them in-house, which takes time and needs a scouting programme and a development team, or you buy them," Guercilena said, admitting Lidl-Trek are looking at both options.
"It's not easy to compete with the big teams and riders like Tadej Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel but that's what we want to do.
"We tend to look more long to medium term and develop our riders in-house. If somebody comes to the market, we'll look at them carefully."
Lidl-Trek signed just four new riders for 2025 - Kämna, Søren Kragh Andersen, promising sprinter Tim Torn Teutenberg and 18-year-old super-talent Jasper Philipsen. They have t10 riders out of contract later this year.
"We think our stability is a sign of our strength, so we don't change our roster too much each year. Of course, there's the age factor, rider ambitions and the need for results," Guercilena explained.
"Pro cycling never sleeps, nobody waits for the Tour de France anymore, the rider market and talks go on all year, even before the final 12 months of a rider's contract. We're already active and studying the riders and deals that could be available for 2026 and fit in our project."
Stephen is one of the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.