Men - World Team Lidl - Trek

Lidl-Trek: From Luxembourg project to US cycling team

Development of a top team in the WorldTour

Lidl-Trek is an American cycling team that has been competing in the highest category of road cycling since 2011. Originally launched as a Luxembourg-based project, the team has undergone several name changes and mergers. Today, with riders such as Mads Pedersen and Tao Geoghegan Hart, it is one of the strongest teams in the UCI WorldTour.

Lidl-Trek, one of the leading teams in the UCI WorldTour, can look back on an eventful history. The team was founded in 2011 under the name Leopard Trek with a Luxembourg licence. At the time, the team led by the Schleck brothers and Fabian Cancellara was regarded as the strongest road cycling team in the world. The Luxembourg sports patron Flavio Becca acted as financial backer, while Trek acted as co-name sponsor. In the following years, the team underwent several name changes and mergers until it started racing under an American licence as Trek Factory Racing in 2014. Since 2023, the team has been competing under the name Lidl-Trek after the international food retailer Lidl was acquired as the new main sponsor.

Development and sporting success

In the early years, the team relied primarily on the Luxembourg brothers Andy and Fränk Schleck and the Swiss Fabian Cancellara as captains. Cancellara was able to achieve important successes in the classics during this time. After the merger with Team RadioShack in 2012 and the subsequent entry of Trek as a licence holder, the team structure changed. In the following years, riders such as Bauke Mollema, Jasper Stuyven and Mads Pedersen scored important victories for the team. Pedersen developed into one of the team's top riders and won the World Road Race Championships in 2019, among others. In the 2023 season, Lidl-Trek finished fifth in the UCI team classification, underlining its continuous development into one of the strongest WorldTour teams.

Current squad and outlook

Lidl-Trek has put together a strong and versatile squad for the 2025 season. The top riders still include the Dane Mads Pedersen and the British Giro d'Italia winner from 2020, Tao Geoghegan Hart. With the German tour specialist Lennard Kämna, another high-calibre rider has also been signed. Young talents such as Belgian junior cyclocross world champion Thibau Nys and young Danish rider Mattias Skjelmose are also part of the line-up. The team is thus relying on a mixture of experienced winning riders and promising talents to be successful in the grand tours and classics. With the support of the new main sponsor Lidl and the experience of the long-standing bike manufacturer Trek, the team is endeavouring to further consolidate its position at the top of world cycling.

Promoting young talent and future prospects

Since the start of the 2024 season, Lidl-Trek has also had its own junior team, Lidl-Trek Future Racing. This development team is intended to introduce young talent to professional cycling and ensure a continuous supply of riders for the WorldTour team. With this step, the team is emphasising its long-term commitment to cycling and its ambition to remain one of the world's leading teams in the future. The combination of experienced professionals, up-and-coming talent and a solid financial base from strong sponsors means that Lidl-Trek can be expected to continue to play an important role in international cycling in the coming years.