Guercilena set for director of cycling at RCS Sport after Lidl-Trek exit
Daniel Benson has reported that Luca Guercilena is set for a major role at RCS Sport, the organiser of the Giro d’Italia, and his appointment as Director of Cycling was confirmed later on Wednesday.
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Luca Guercilena is set for a major new role at RCS Sport following his departure from Lidl-Trek, according to reports from Daniel Benson.
It was confirmed at the start of June that Guercilena would vacate his role as general manager of Lidl-Trek after the 2026 Tour de France, with Andy Schleck stepping up as CEO and Grischa Niermann moving across from Visma | Lease a Bike to become chief sporting officer.
Guercilena has been with the now German-registered team since its inception, becoming sports director in 2011. Lidl-Trek confirmed that he would “remain fully active in his role through the 2026 Tour de France, ensuring a smooth handover.”
Prior to Guercilena's departure being formally confirmed, Domestique understood that the Italian was high on RCS Sport’s shortlist of candidates to take over the vacant position of Giro d'Italia race director.
Guercilena’s appointment was confirmed on Wednesday in an RCS Sport press release. He will take up the role of Cycling Director, overseeing the management of races including the Giro d’Italia, Il Lombardia and Milan Sanremo.
"Starting September 1st, Luca Guercilena will be responsible for the overall management of the cycling area, both for the organisation of the races and for managing all related logistics," stated RCS in their press release.
During the Giro, Domestique spoke to RCS Sport CEO Paolo Bellino about the future of the vacant Giro race director position, with the Italian outlining a potential shift away from the traditional structure of having a central figure.
“Cycling has changed a lot,” said Bellino. “The point of reference used to be a very important figure, but now the organisation is much broader and larger, and there are still points of reference there.”
“I don’t think we’ll be appointing a traditional race director because I don’t think that model works anymore. We’ll definitely be changing the organisational structure.”
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