Tour de France: The Andy Schleck era at Lidl-Trek starts now 🇫🇷
'Looking back over the last 15 years I wasn’t sitting on the couch playing PlayStation'. In Barcelona, Andy Schleck discusses Lidl-Trek's changing ambitions, the departure of Guercilena and more
Hey Subscribers,
To coincide with the Tour de France, there’s a special offer for annual subscriptions with a whopping 20% discount. So for just £1 a week, you’ll receive all my exclusive stories from the Tour and the cycling transfer market.
There was a poignant moment this morning at the Lidl-Trek media event on the outskirts of Barcelona. In the hotel lobby, the outgoing General Manager, Luca Guercilena, stood and walked out just as the new GEO, Andy Schleck, walked in and sat down with the cycling media. Neither appeared to make eye contact, and for those following the team’s accelerated transition, it felt symbolic.
(The full audio interview with Schleck is in the Founding Members WhatsApp group, where all my audio files will go during the Tour. To listen to them, simply upgrade to Founding Member status).
Twitter 🟢 — Instagram 🔴 — Bluesky 🔵
Most of what’s happened in the Lidl-Trek management restructure has taken place behind the scenes, but this incident was visible to us. For me, someone who has followed Schleck’s career throughout and has admired Luca Guercilena’s achievements, it felt like a changing of the guard unfolding before our eyes.
Read more: Tour de France Power Rankings 🇫🇷
When Schleck sat down to talk with my Substack, Cyclingnews, and Feltet, he was upfront and detailed in his answers. He discussed the accelerated transition, the friction it caused, how the Classics remain a focus for the team despite their GC hopes, and how he feels ready to lead one of the sport’s biggest challenges despite his limited experience in the role.
“It’s been a journey, but what you see on the outside always happens a couple of months before, so I knew it was going to be a big challenge. I took it very seriously because I knew that for me personally my life was going to change, and I was doing a lot behind the scenes in the last years with Skoda and ASO, with different positions that I held, but that I needed to stop and give full focus to this project,” Schleck said.
“Then it went quite quickly, and the first camp that I joined was after the Vuelta last year with some meetings. I have to say a big hat’s off to Luca, who really guided me. I was following him and next to him, and I’m still next to him. He teaches me a lot of the details inside the team with the onboarding with all the staff and riders because trust is not handed out, it’s earned,” he added.