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Lidl-Trek adds a women's development team; field size unchanged
Lidl-Trek announced Lidl-Trek Future Racing Women, a Continental-level development team for 2027, with a 10-rider roster from eight countries. The number of women's development teams stays the same, because UAE Team L'IMAD shut its own this year. The roster is not strictly under-23, and manager Fränk Schleck says selection looked beyond results.
What this means
Lidl-Trek now has a development team on the women's side, which it launched on the men's side in 2024. The count of women's development teams does not rise, because UAE Team L'IMAD closed its own this year.
Lidl-Trek will join Canyon-SRAM, AG Insurance-Soudal, Liv AlUla Jayco and Fenix-Premier Tech with a development arm in 2027. The roster is USA's Katherine Sarkisov and Ella Sabo, Great Britain's Kate Richardson, Austria's Tabea Huys, Italy's Chantal Pegolo and Matilde Rossignoli, Luxembourg's Liv Wenzel, Spain's Ane Zubeldia, Denmark's Olympia Norrid-Mortensen and Germany's Messane Bräutigam. Some of those riders are older than a strict under-23 cut-off would allow. Schleck frames the team as a bridge: «The step up to the WorldTour is becoming more demanding, so we want to create a clear pathway where riders can learn, make mistakes and grow without the immediate pressure to deliver results.» The results on the roster are real: Rossignoli was second in the junior road race at the World Championships in Montreal last month, Sarkisov was seventh in the U23 race, and Sabo was third at the Philadelphia Cycling Classic. Huys, 21, has ridden this autumn as a stagiaire for Lidl-Trek's Women's WorldTour team after Continental-level results this year. Schleck says the selection weighed «Potential, attitude, a willingness to learn and what each rider could bring to the group».
Sources
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