The Trek-Segafredo crew are reportedly set to rebrand forward of this yr’s Tour de France after attracting main new title sponsorship from grocery store chain Lidl.
Based on Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws (opens in new tab) and Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, the US-registered set-up can be often known as Lidl-Trek going ahead.
The present Trek-Segafredo contains males’s and girls’s WorldTour squads however solely the lads’s is referenced within the HLN report, though the squads are conjoined to the extent that’s could be stunning if the Lidl deal solely lined the lads.
The deal is claimed to begin on July 1, the beginning date of the 2023 Tour de France, and proceed into 2024 and past, though the precise contract period is unclear at this stage.
The Tour de France Femmes follows straight on from the lads’s Tour on July 23. Nonetheless, the Giro d’Italia Donne begins on June 30, so it stays to be seen how the rebrand works on the ladies’s aspect. The sponsorship information and the crew’s new colors may very well be revealed within the days earlier than the beginning of each races.
The crew declined to touch upon the matter to Cyclingnews, describing the stories as “rumours”.
The crew, which traces its roots to the Leopard Trek outfit that started in 2011, have been looking out for a brand new title sponsor with Segafredo’s contract because of expire on the finish of 2023.
The Italian espresso firm joined in 2016 and renewed for one more three years in 2019 as the ladies’s squad was launched, earlier than including one other two years from 2022. The stories point out that Segafredo will step apart early to permit Lidl to start their backing on the time of most publicity on the Tour de France.
This isn’t Lidl’s first involvement in skilled biking. The German-based grocery store firm, which has sturdy presence all through Europe, was a co-sponsor of the QuickStep crew from 2016 to 2021 and is a present associate of the Flanders Classics sequence of Spring races, together with the Tour of Flanders.
The phrases of Lidl’s sponsorship are usually not but recognized however Het Laatste Nieuws suggests there can be “a hefty finances improve”.
The crew, who had been twelfth within the 2022 UCI rankings and presently sit sixth within the 2023 standings, solely have 11 riders beneath contract for 2024, with room to manoeuvre within the switch market.
Giulio Ciccone is among the crew’s key leaders, together with the Classics pairing of Mads Pedersen and Jasper Stuyven. The veteran Bauke Mollema is on a long-term deal, whereas 22-year-old Mattias Skjelmose is making his breakthrough on the high degree and Belgian expertise Thibau Nys is maybe not far behind.
