On the right track: How Leon Atkins signed a long-term contract with Lidl-Trek 🇬🇧
Training camps in Spain and meetings at the Tour of Britain. How Lidl-Trek moved forward with the highly rated 16-year-old
Hi Subscribers,
I hope you’re all looking forward to the weekend and Paris-Roubaix. Over the coming days, we’ll have a race analysis of the women’s and men’s races, along with another Roubaix-related feature, later today.
We’re kicking off today’s coverage with an exclusive interview with Markel Irizar, the Development Team Manager / Talent Scout at Lidl-Trek. The interview focuses on news that Lidl-Trek has signed Leon Atkins, with the 16-year-old British star set to join the team’s U23 programme at the start of 2027.
I talked with Irizar about Atkins’ talents as a rider, how the signing came about, and the need to protect young riders as they develop at the right pace.
If you’d like to read my interview with Leon from a few months ago, it’s free and right here: Next Rider Up: Leon Atkins 🇬🇧
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On the right track: How Leon Atkins signed a long-term contract with Lidl-Trek
The Marriott Hotel in Denia, Spain, has been a prominent WorldTour team destination for over a decade.
Back in the day, it was where Jim Ochowicz and his BMC Racing squad used to stay during their winter training camps, and when Richie Porte moved from the squad to Trek-Segafredo in 2019, he recommended the location to his new employers. Of course, BMC Racing is no more, and Trek-Segafredo has morphed into the highly successful Lidl-Trek, but the Marriott remains an ever-present rendezvous point for cycling’s elite.
Last winter, Lidl-Trek once again headed there for a series of camps as the men’s and women’s WorldTour squads - along with the U23 team - gathered for meetings, training rides, and media assignments. Anyone who has attended a winter training camp will testify that it’s less about proper training and more about assigning tasks for the year ahead and hastily planning an entire calendar of races for well over a hundred staff and riders. It’s organised chaos at its best.
Imagine stepping into that world as a 16-year-old, being unfamiliar with the riders and having just three days to impress team boss Luca Guercilena and Markel Irizar. That’s precisely what Leon Atkins encountered when he visited Denia in January.
The young British rider had been on Lidl-Trek’s radar for almost a year. After tearing up the junior scene in the UK and winning over 10 national titles in road and cyclo-cross in 2024, along with four senior races, and claiming the win in the 2km individual pursuit youth national championship on the track, Atkins was the name of many teams' shopping lists.
However, the camp in January wasn’t the first time Atkins had met the team. Back in September, during the Tour of Britain, Irizar met with the young rider and his father, Gavin Atkins, to discuss the potential for a future partnership. This meeting didn’t occur at the swanky Marriott in Denia but at the Holiday Inn Rugby-Northampton, just off junction 18 of the M1. While it wasn’t as glamorous as a five-star hotel overlooking a golf course, it was equally important.