From co-sponsor to superpower: Lidl’s takeover transforms a team's ambitions 🇺🇸 🇩🇪
Exclusive interview with Lidl-Trek team boss Luca Guercilena on greater investment, aiming to be the best team in the world and the dynamic between Ayuso and Skjelmose
At the beginning of the week, Lidl-Trek revealed that its title sponsor, the supermarket chain Lidl, had taken a majority stake in the team’s WorldTour operation. This decision marked the end of months of negotiations announced in the summer. The agreement was finalised at the team’s first off-season camp, held at Lidl’s German headquarters in Bad Wimpfen, where 160 riders and staff were present.
The importance of this new deal and its structure is immense. It propels the team closer to the financial powerhouses of UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Visma-Lease a Bike, and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, while also enhancing the squad’s reputation and long-term prospects. Trek will still hold a stake in the team, but the squad will now be registered in Germany rather than the US, emphasising its renewed ambition to become the world’s leading team.
In this article, we explore the team’s objectives and how Lidl’s involvement could shape the team’s direction in the years to come.
“Having such a big company as the major owner, most of all, gives us stability. There’s also a long-term view: we can be more consistent because when a big company like this steps in, we can carry on for longer. It’s also not a secret that Lidl is a lot bigger than Trek, so the business risk that Lidl can take is higher,” said team general manager Luca Guercilena when we caught up with him after the official announcement.
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The prominent place to start with the new deal is the budget increase that the team will naturally receive. Of course, part of that has already come into effect after signing off on paying around 10 million Euros for Juan Ayuso’s contract buy-out from UAE Team Emirates-XRG, not to mention his three million-plus-a-year salary for the next five years that the rider will receive.