Steven de Jongh Believes Lidl-Trek Can Surpass Visma | Lease a Bike This Year
Lidl-Trek made a significant step forward this past winter. With the signings of Juan Ayuso and Derek Gee-West, two top GC contenders were secured. The fact that the supermarket chain Lidl is now also the owner of the team provides additional resources. The team aims to get closer to UAE Emirates XRG in 2026 and, above all, surpass Visma | Lease a Bike. This is what team director Steven de Jongh told Cyclingflash.com in the Alpecin Barbershop.
By recruiting the young, talented Spaniard and the Canadian champion Derek Gee-West, the German squad gains many more options. The Dutch team director agrees: “We can now cover every Grand Tour with a specific GC rider if we want to. Even if someone drops out before a Grand Tour, we can still send someone else to contend for the overall. That is pure luxury.” Besides Ayuso and Gee-West, they also have Mattias Skjelmose in their ranks.
The team faced a major setback ahead of the classics. Leader Mads Pedersen crashed during the opening stage of the Tour of Valencia, breaking his wrist and collarbone. It remains uncertain if he will be ready for the monuments later this spring. Even with the strong Dane in recent years, there has been a gap to riders like Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel.
“It’s up to us to try to close that gap. I don’t think we’re ready yet to beat those two top riders. But we do have the youth now to do that in the future.”
De Jongh is certainly pleased with Lidl’s ambitions as a company. According to him, this enables the team to raise the level in multiple areas and is just the beginning of something great. “In 2025, we finished in the top 3 (behind UAE Emirates and Visma | Lease a Bike, ed.) in the UCI Team Ranking. I see us finishing there again at the end of this season.”
“If we have a really good season, we might even move up one spot to the top 2. I expect about the same number of wins as in 2025, maybe even a bit more. And let’s hope there’s a monument victory among the classics this year.”
