From sponsor to owner: Lidl takes charge of Lidl-Trek with world number one goal

Lidl has taken over majority ownership of the Lidl-Trek team. The planned ownership restructure was announced during the summer, and it was formally completed at the team’s first 2026 planning camp last week, which took place at Lidl Germany’s headquarters in Bad Wimpfen.

Trek Bicycle remains a co-owner of the team. The American bike manufacturer first took over the licence of the WorldTour squad in 2014, following RadioShack’s departure as title sponsor.

Lidl came on board as title sponsor midway through the 2023 season, having previously served as a sub-sponsor of QuickStep. The supermarket chain’s arrival increased the budget and ambition of Luca Guercilena’s team, which was recently signalled by the signing of Juan Ayuso from UAE Team Emirates-XRG.

In a statement confirming the restructure on Monday, Lidl-Trek reiterated its intention to become “the number one road cycling team.” The men’s WorldTour team ended the 2025 season third in the UCI rankings behind UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Visma | Lease a Bike, while the Women’s WorldTour team lies fourth in the UCI rankings.

“The signing of this contract marks a monumental moment for Lidl-Trek,” said Thomas Rohregger, Head of Brand Partnerships and Head of Cycling at Lidl.

“The partnership is based on the strategic goal of transferring Lidl’s organizational excellence to Lidl-Trek and combining the expertise of both co-owners to achieve our ambitious goals. The combined resources and expertise are intended to accelerate the team’s performance development in the coming seasons.”

In its statement on Monday, Lidl-Trek said the new structure would guarantee the team’s future stability and it would also allow the squad to “invest in a state-of-the-art performance center and to use the technological expertise of Schwarz Digits, the digital powerhouse of the Schwarz Group.”

Lidl-Trek’s deep 2026 men’s roster will include Ayuso, Mads Pedersen, Mattias Skjelmose, Jonathan Milan, Giulio Ciccone, Thibau Nys and Quinn Simmons. The women’s squad features Elisa Balsamo, Niamh Fisher-Black and Riejanne Markus, while Lidl-Trek have also assembled a strong development squad.

Speaking to Domestique at the recent Tour of Guangxi, directeur sportif Kim Andersen explained that the addition of Ayuso to a Grand Tour stable that already includes Skjelmose and Tao Geoghegan Hart was a sign of Lidl-Trek's ambition to compete with UAE and Visma.

“We are third in the rankings this year but this was the goal,” Andersen said. “We had a really nice season, but we just reached our goal – now we need to move and progress.”

Lidl’s increased stake comes as teams scramble for bigger budgets to compete at the highest level of the sport. Bora-Hansgrohe’s budget was boosted by the arrival of Red Bull as title sponsor last year, while the Decathlon-CMA CGM’s budget will reportedly increase from €28 million to €40 million in 2026.