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‘Lidl-Trek is now a super team’ - US WorldTour squad begins new era in 2024

Team manager Luca Guercilena tells Cyclingnews how Lidl’s sponsorship will transform the men’s and women’s teams

Lidl-Trek has a bigger budget, stronger rosters and higher ambitions for 2024. 

The reportedly 40% boost in budget, thanks to the arrival of the Lidl supermarket chain, has elevating the US-registered WorldTour team to the status of ‘super team’, allowing them to take on UAE Team Emirates and Jumbo-Visma in the men’s WorldTour and SD Worx in the women’s WorldTour. 

Team manager Luca Guercilena is convinced that the arrival of Tao Geoghegan Hart , Jonathan Milan, Andrea Bagioli, Carlos Verona and others will strengthen the men’s team that already includes Mads Pedersen, Giulio Ciccone, Mattias Skjelmose and Quinn Simmons.

Britain’s Izzy Sharp , Canadian sisters Ava and Isabella Holmgren and Clara Copponi  will join Elisa Balsamo, Lizzie Deignan, Elisa Longo Borghini, Amanda Spratt, Elynor Bäckstedt and Gaia Realini in the women’s line up.     

The 48 riders of the men’s, women’s and new men’s development team , are in Calpe, Spain, along with a similar number of staff, for an important December training camp. It is the only time they will all be together before the start of the 2024 season and a new era for the team.  

Guercilena is still undergoing treatment for lymphoma and so won’t be able to attend the training camp. However, he has overseen the transformation of the team in recent months and is excited to see how the team performs in the years to come.

He explains to Cyclingnews the team’s plans and ambitions for 2024.

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Cyclingnews: This winter marks the start of a new phase for the team with Lidl as a key partner and several big-name riders signed for 2024. How important will the season be for the team? What are the goals for the team? 

Luca Guercilena: 2024 will mark a new starting point for the team. The agreement with Lidl and the signing of a bunch of new riders, gives the team the opportunity to be more ambitious. The aim is to fight for the number one spot in the UCI team ranking. Of course to do that, we know we have to build a team that can win a certain quantity of races and a certain quality of races. That will take some time but it's our plan and what drives us. 

CN: UAE Team Emirates, Jumbo-Visma and Ineos Grenadiers are considered as the super teams of the men’s WorldTour. Should we now add Lidl-Trek to that list considering the team’s budget, rider roster and ambitions? 

LG: I believe we’ve reached that level with our budget and the riders we have. Lidl-Trek is now a super team. Now the most important part will be to perform as a super team. In sport, money always helps, but it’s the results and how you achieve them that count the most, that’s what we’ll be judged on.

CN: How did you convince Lidl to become a major title sponsor and what do they expect from the team and the sport of professional cycling? 

LG: I think our proposal to Lidl was based on three main points. The first is the professionalism and qualities of Trek as a company. Both Lidl and Trek are major companies with similar ambitions and ways of working. For sure that made a significant difference. 

Secondly, Lidl, like us, have the ambition to be the best team in professional cycling. Like us, they want to prove that business skills could be applied to sport to highlight the qualities of the company. 

Thirdly, we created a clear strategy and marketing plan together. We know that sponsorship is not just about showing off the logo, so our plans go much deeper and wider than that. Marketing, special side events, promotions and lots of other things are also parts of our project. Their global appeal and strategy is like ours, we’re very much in sync in the way we work and what we want to achieve.  

For us as a team, involving Lidl in our project is a source of pride and satisfaction. In recent years not many major cycling teams have been able to attract a global B2C sponsor into the sport but we did and we’re proud of that. Lidl’s support has helped us increase the team’s budget, sign new riders and make other investments like the Development team. It’s made us bigger and better.   

Bigger and better for 2024

CN: In addition to the men’s WorldTour team, Lidl-Trek have the incredibly successful women’s WorldTour team and now a men’s development team. What else have you worked on to be better in 2024?  

LG: We’re trying to improve the overall quality of the team, to constantly raise the bar, as they say. We’ve strengthened the men’s and women’s WorldTour teams, signed some of the most talented young women and created a men’s development team. We’ve created two team bases in Spain so that riders can train there if it’s bad weather at home or need some special support from the team. The young riders will be based in Girona and we’ll have another base in Denia, near Alicante. We’ve also hired apartments in Tenerife at altitude for specific training camps.

We’ve also invested a lot to improve the structural core and back-room staff of the team, as we work as one united team across the men’s and women’s programmes. We have more staff with specific roles such as a psychologist, nutritionists, chefs and data analysts. 

CN: Lidl-Trek have recently announced the signing of talented junior road race and mountain bike World Champion Albert Withen Philipsen, who will turn professional in 2025 after his final season as a junior. Can we expect more major signings like this in the future?  

LG: As the saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day, so we need to be careful and build the team strategically to reach our goals. Albert Philipsen is one of those key rider signings for the long-term future of the team. We’ve signed him for 2025, to help him develop carefully with us, so he can reach his full potential while racing for Lidl-Trek.  CN: How does the arrival of Tao Geoghegan Hart and Jonathan Milan change the ambitions of the men’s team? 

LG: I think Tao is a perfect leader for the GC in stage races, and for sure we want to support him to be a contender to win a Grand Tour. We’ll give him the time to get ready to be competitive and build a group of teammates around him.

Jonathan Milan needs to make the step up to be a multiple race winner but we’re confident he can do it. He will have a dedicated group of riders to lead him out in the sprints and he’ll also be part of our Classic group. We believe he has huge potential.

CN: What would you say is the philosophy of the Lidl-Trek team? How do you select your riders and based on what qualities?  

LG: The philosophy of the team will always be the same: the name in front of the jersey is more important than the one on the back, than any individual rider. Team goals always have priority over individual results. Everyone on the team has to respect each other and the internal rules, so we create the right empathy and help each other do the best we can. 

Rider selection is a long, detailed process for us. We check rider results, study their performance and testing history, do further internal performance tests, psychological tests, nutrition analysis and biomechanical tests. Finally riders undergo an interview with me and the high performance staff to understand their ambitions, eventual race calendars and goals. CN: How do you ‘build’ a cohesive, successful team of riders and staff? Everyone was in the USA in October and now in Calpe at the December training camp. What happens during the get togethers? 

LG: The visit to see Trek in the USA is a chance for everyone to meet the people in the company and to spend some fun time together, to build our team spirit and to get to know each other.  

The December camp is the most important of all. It’s the only time of season in which we are all together. We start working on all the performance aspects of the team and the riders train and spend time together. The January camp is more specific for training, the workload is very high, when riders train with the teammates they will then race with during the season. Each camp has specific goals but also includes some fun stuff too. It’s a mix of both work and fun that builds a strong team. It’s all part of a process.

CN: What are the advantages of having both a successful men’s and women’s team? Should all major teams have to do the same?  

LG: We believe we have one team of 48 riders, with no distinction between the men and women. The level of assistance they have is the same, and being at camp together helps each team learn from each other. They also push each other to do well and help each other. 

A new business model for professional cycling

CN: There is a lot of talk about the business model of professional cycling due to the structural problems of the sport, evident after the attempted merger of Jumbo-Visma and Soudal-QuickStep did not happen. 

LG: I think now is the time to change and build a new cycling model. The costs at every level in the sport have grown exponentially in the last few years for teams and organisers. This means we need a new model that brings more into the sport than just sponsorship or fragmented television rights. We need a structure like they have in tennis, Formula 1 and the US professional sports. We need a business model for professional cycling that includes the good things done in those sports and the unique things that make cycling so special. CN: Can Lidl-Trek be an example for change and help make the change happen?

LG: We are going all in to try to make it happen. Cycling must be financially sustainable like other professional sports, with one entity to create, control and distribute new kinds of incoming, while respecting the existing structures. It can happen, we can make it happen together, just as we are doing at Lidl-Trek for 2024.

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Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters , Shift Active Media , and CyclingWeekly , among other publications.

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Bigger budget, more staff, and increased testing: inside Lidl-Trek's transformation into a super team

By 2028 the American team wants to win one of cycling's three Grand Tours, and be firmly among the sport's leading elite

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The talk is big, the grandest it could be, but are Lidl-Trek walking the walk? Are the American team really set on becoming the undisputed best men’s and women’s team in cycling?

Last June, European supermarket giant Lidl invested a significant amount into the team, increasing their annual budget to around €40m - placing them among the richest outfits in the sport.

Revolutions don’t happen overnight, but the plan from the outset was unambiguous: within five years, they would become the men’s and women’s number one ranked UCI team, and win a men’s Grand Tour. 

If the task for the men’s team is daunting - not least because of the presence of UAE-Team Emirates and Visma-Lease a Bike, but also because of the team’s current forte being the Classics - then the challenge for the women’s outfit is also complicated, with the all-conquering SD Worx in their way.

2024 has started positively, though, with 19 victories shared between the teams, and Mads Pedersen, new signing Jonathan Milan, Elisa Balsamo and Ellen van Dijk all regularly winning.

So what have been the changes behind the scenes in the nine months since Lidl came on board? “ We’ve been able to sign a lot of good riders , leaders like Tao [Geoghegan Hart] and [Jonathan] Milan, as well as other strong guys, so that’s an improvement,” says Bauke Mollema, a rider with the team since 2015.

“There’s also been an investment in more coaches, data analysts, and nutritionists, a desire to try to improve everything because those marginal gains are so important these days.”

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Previously, the team’s coaching department did all the data analysis, but now they have specialists in place who have been pivotal in more riders spending more time in the wind tunnel and working on aerodynamic improvements on the track. There has also been a recruitment drive in other departments, including two new chefs, as well as a new 14-rider men’s development team.

“The team’s goals are bigger, and what the team has done really well is to get everybody on board with that goal really quickly,” says Amy Cameron, a team press officer. “You can feel like everyone is wanting and trying to step up.”

Despite the new flow of cash, developing meaningfully but steadily is the plan, according to lead sports director Steven De Jongh. “We have more budget now so it makes things easier,” he says.

“But what’s been good is that we’ve kept our DNA. Ok, we’ve hired a lot of people, but at the winter training camps it still felt like it was us, Trek, and that’s a good sign.

“You can choose to grow explosively, hire people straight away, but it’s better to do it step by step. The culture we have is really good and we should take care of that. We have this sponsorship now and we have time to grow towards the goals in a good way. We’re now in the transition of becoming a GC team - it’s just a matter of time.”

Key to making the partnership work is a close working relationship between Lidl and the team, and Cameron says that “there is a constant back and forth between Lidl, Trek and the team. It’s a real partnership, everyone is fully invested."

She adds: "We did store visits before the team’s launch in Bilbao, and again before the Vuelta last year. At Milan-Sanremo, in La Gazzetta dello Sport, there were Lidl adverts with our riders in their stores, so you can see that we’re part of their marketing as well. We are a tool for them just as much as they are a tool for us.”

The team have high hopes in the current spring Classics , principally through Pedersen, Balsamo and Elisa Longo Borghini, but once full attention turns back to multi-day racing, there is one clear mission. “To fight with the biggest teams in the world,” says Mollema. “Visma and UAE are ahead right now, but our goal is to be the number one team in the coming years.”

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A freelance sports journalist and podcaster, you'll mostly find Chris's byline attached to news scoops, profile interviews and long reads across a variety of different publications. He has been writing regularly for Cycling Weekly since 2013. In 2024 he released a seven-part podcast documentary, Ghost in the Machine , about motor doping in cycling.

Previously a ski, hiking and cycling guide in the Canadian Rockies and Spanish Pyrenees, he almost certainly holds the record for the most number of interviews conducted from snowy mountains. He lives in Valencia, Spain.

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Niamh Fisher-Black the Latest in Glittering Quartet of Signings for Lidl-Trek

American worldtour team signs four big talents, each of them on three year deals..

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In a sign of heightened ambitions for the future, Lidl-Trek has inked a three-year contract with one of the best climbing talents in the sport.

The U.S. WorldTour squad confirmed the addition of Niamh Fisher-Black this week, adding to three other strong signings this month.

Fisher-Black has been part of the crack SD Worx-Protime team for the past four years, helping riders such as Demi Vollering and Lotte Kopecky to the biggest wins in the sport.

She has also clocked up fine results herself including stages this season at the Giro d’Italia Women and the Settmana Ciclistica Valenciana.

“Lidl-Trek have long been an attractive team to me,” she said of the move.

“I admire their aggressive style of racing and professional approach. It’s been noticeable even from the outside; their commitment to their riders, rider development and keen plans for the future.”

The Kiwi won the under 23 world road race championships two years ago, a result which illustrates her potential.

She said that the team’s belief in her was a big factor in her decision, as well as the collective strength of the squad and its vision about how she will fit in.

Team manager Luca Guercilena said that Lidl-Trek is committed to giving her the environment and resources needed to reach her full potential.

“Niamh is a standout talent with a bright future ahead of her,” he said. “We’ve been impressed by her development so far, and she is eager to continue on this upward trajectory.”

Glittering Giro results point to potential

Now 24 years of age, Fisher-Black has finished in the top 10 of the Giro d’Italia Donne on four occasions, including fifth overall in 2022.

And while she has had to sacrifice personal opportunities to support the likes of Vollering and Kopecky, she will get greater leadership opportunities with Lidl-Trek.

She wants to use that to accelerate her progress as an athlete.

“I intend to play a key role in the team and their goals. Personally I have felt a steady incline in my development the last few years. Of course, like any athlete, I hope to see that improve more.

“I am eager to explore my potential in GC riding, perhaps starting with shorter stage races and progressing to the Grand Tour lengths.

“I am realistic that I have some work to do, but I am confident that Lidl-Trek will be able to provide the stable footing and supportive environment that I need to take these steps.”

Three other big names coming on board

Lidl-Trek is making changes for 2025, with three riders exiting. A team spokesperson confirmed that longtime star Elisa Longo Borghini, Elynor Bäckstedt and Brodie Chapman are leaving.

Velo understands that Lizzie Deignan, Ilaria Sanguineti, Amanda Spratt and Ellen van Dijk are all set to stay.

Fisher-Black’s signing comes hot on the heels of three other contract announcements in the past ten days.

Olympic silver medalist Anna Henderson , Emma Norsgaard and Riejanne Markus are all incoming to the squad. Like Fisher-Black, they have inked three year contracts, and will raise the level of the team.

Henderson took her best-ever result just over a month ago when she was runner-up in the Olympic time trial. That follows on from her second place overall in this year’s Tour of Britain Women and the 2023 European TT championships.

“I’m particularly looking forward to working with a new group of teammates and staff. I’m eager to see how we can push each other to achieve our goals,” she said.

Guercilena noted she had made “a huge improvement” in recent years despite several serious injuries. He described the 25 year old as “an excellent talent with a proven ability to perform at the highest level, particularly in time trials.”

Markus is also moving across from Visma-Lease a Bike. She too is coming off a huge runner-up slot, netting second in the Vuelta España Femenina in May.

The 29-year-old referred to the approach and vibe of the team as being deciding factors.

“For years, I’ve admired their pioneering role within women’s cycling, providing the same level of support as their men’s team. [That’s] something that has inspired me deeply,” she said.

“I’ve always been drawn to well-organized teams, and Lidl-Trek is renowned for just that. Plus, the atmosphere among the riders and staff looks fantastic. I can’t wait to be a part of it.”

Danish national TT champion Norsgaard is a past winner of stages in the Tour de France Femmes and the Giro d’Italia Internazionale Femminile.

She was initially known as a sprinter but has broadened her range, and hopes to win the Tour of Flanders.

She believes moving to what she refers to as “a dream team” will be a step towards the goal. “I am hoping to be the best version of myself and the best possible teammate.

“I already started dreaming about the upcoming season after my first meeting with Trek.”

Guecilena predicted she could become one of the top riders in the classics. As for Markus, he said that R&D investments in aerodynamics “will give her the tools she needs to excel even further, particularly in time trials.”

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Lidl Partners With Trek to Become Main Sponsor of Lidl-Trek Road Cycling Team

Lidl-trek will begin racing in worldtour pelotons on june 30.

WATERLOO, Wisconsin (May 30, 2023) — Lidl will be the new title partner of Trek’s road racing program. Lidl-Trek will begin competing in the WorldTour peloton starting with the Giro d’Italia Donne on June 30 and the men’s Tour de France on July 1. The partnership brings together two major brands — Lidl and Trek — that are committed to quality and customer hospitality. They will work together to broaden the ambitions of the road program while maintaining the core values that have made Trek’s racing teams consistently excellent.’

Trek’s road riders are some of the fastest in the world, and include four elite World Champions (Mads Pedersen, Elisa Balsamo, Lizzie Deignan, Ellen van Dijk) and winners of prestigious races such as Paris-Roubaix (Deignan, Elisa Longo Borghini), Milan-Sanremo (Jasper Stuyven), Liège-Bastogne-Liège (Deignan) and Il Lombardia (Bauke Mollema).

“We are excited to work with a team that is committed not only to excellence in cycling, but also to the sustainable development of athletes in a family team culture,” Jeroen Bal, Divisional Board Member responsible for the Customer at Lidl International said. “We are convinced that healthy nutrition and an active lifestyle – shaped by sports and exercise – strengthen people’s well-being. Just as our Lidl products are accessible to everyone, cycling is a sport for everyone and suitable for anyone who wants to be more active in everyday life. We want to share this message with as many people as possible.”

Over the last 50 years, Lidl has expanded to more than 12,000 stores across 31 countries. Their mission is to provide the highest quality food and goods at the lowest possible price.

“Part of our mission is to provide incredible hospitality to our customers and it’s clear that Lidl shares the same mindset,” Trek President John Burke said. “We’re looking forward to working closely together to build the best cycling teams in the world while also inspiring more people to get on bikes.”

Segafredo will be departing as a title sponsor of the program ahead of the Tour de France. More details about the new partnership between Lidl and Trek to follow in the coming weeks.

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UW-La Crosse football wins big in season opener at RPI

(WLAX/WEUX) – The UW-L Eagles football team took the 18-hour trek to Troy, New York, and will have quite the happy road trip back to the Coulee Region, beating RPI 35-0.

In the first ever matchup between the RPI (NY) Engineers and UW-La Crosse, the Eagles could not ask for a much better start to the game, let alone the season.

Eagles quarterback Zach Weir got the season started with a bang. Weir, the first year starting quarterback, connected with standout wide receiver Jack Studer on a 64-yard completion to put the Eagles inside the 10-yard line. Weir would run the ball in just two plays later to put the Eagles up 7-0 barely a minute into the season opener.

After forcing RPI to a three and out on their first drive, the Eagles offense would match that, stalling deep in their own territory. The first penalty on the game would come midway through the first quarter on a defensive pass interference, but the UW-L run defense would prove why it was as great as it was last season.

With just over four minutes left in the first quarter, the Eagles were knocking on the doorstep of pushing their lead to 14-0 courtesy of a rush heavy drive which featured rushes from Braedon Ott and Kyle Haas. On second and goal from the one yard line, Zach Weir was unable to handle a high snap, resulting in an Eagles turnover.

The Eagles stellar early defense would continue as they would force a punt late in the first quarter, and the offense would put the ball in the endzone with just over 90 seconds on a 22 yard strike from Kyle Haas to Wyatt Lemoine.

Heading into the second quarter, the Eagles would be leading 14-0, but the Engineers would be on the edge of putting up points for the first time on the season off of a 46 yard pass from Jake Kazanowsky to Sean Kelly that put the ball on the Eagles 16 yard line.

UW-L’s defense would hold strong yet again in the early parts of the second quarter. RPI would put in Aleksander Maric for a 27 yard field goal with just under 14 minutes in the second quarter, which he pushed right to keep the score at 14-0 in favor of UW-L.

After a few drives that went nowhere for both teams, Jack Studer would continue his great game halfway through the second quarter. Following a Jared Pelishek interception that ended RPI’s drive, Studer hauled in a 30-yard dart from Weir that kickstarted a drive that ultimately resulted in no points for UW-L. With a chance to push UW-L’s lead to 17, normally reliable Michael Stack missed a 22-yard field goal with just under four minutes in the half.

Despite all of this, the Eagles would head into the halftime break up 14-0. Last season, the Eagles led in 11 of their 13 games at halftime, going 10-1 in those games.

Both teams would go three and out to start the second half. On RPI’s second drive, running back Christian Buckley busted off a 46-run on 2nd and 10 to flip the field, but the Engineers drive would stall a few plays later following a failed fourth down pass play, a play in which Brennan Goralski picked off Engineers QB Jake Kazanowsky in the end zone.

UW-L head coach Matt Janus would turn even happier with the offensive performance, as Zach Weir aired it out to Wyatt Lemoine for an 80 yard touchdown on UW-L’s one and only play of the drive to extend the Eagles lead to 21-0.

Jack Studer would continue to dominate late in the third. He would haul in his first touchdown of the young season, coming on a beautiful throw from Zach Weir, which was Weir’s third TD pass of the game.

Heading into the fourth quarter, UW-L would look to stretch their lead to 35-0. They would do just that. Jack Janke would haul in a 6-yard touchdown pass, the fourth TD pass from Zach Weir on the ballgame.

That is where the scoring for the ballgame would end. The Eagles are heading back to La Crosse winning their tenth straight season opener, and eleventh in the last twelve. With the win, UW-L would walk out of New York 1-0 on the season.

The Eagles next matchup will be on September 14 against Northern Michigan , with that game coming in La Crosse. Following that, UW-L will head to play their second straight Division 2 opponent, in Grand Valley State University, the final game before WIAC conference play begins.

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Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia

The capital city of Nizhegorodskaya oblast: Nizhny Novgorod .

Nizhny Novgorod Oblast - Overview

Nizhny Novgorod Oblast is a federal subject of Russia located in the central part of European Russia, in the Volga Federal District. Nizhny Novgorod is the capital city of the region.

The population of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast is about 3,144,000 (2022), the area - 76,624 sq. km.

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Nizhegorodskaya oblast latest news and posts from our blog:.

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Nizhny Novgorod Oblast - Features

Nizhny Novgorod Oblast is one of the largest regions of Central Russia. The length of the region from north to south is about 400 km, from west to east - about 300 km. The largest rivers in the European part of Russia flow through the region - the Volga and the Oka.

The largest cities are Nizhny Novgorod (1,234,000), Dzerzhinsk (225,500), Arzamas (102,600), Sarov (96,100), Bor (76,300), Kstovo (66,500), Pavlovo (55,300), Vyksa (52,500), Balakhna (47,200).

The climate of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast is temperate continental climate. The average temperature in January is minus 12 degrees Celsius, in July - plus 19 degrees Celsius. Winter lasts from early November to late March.

There are deposits of peat, phosphorites, iron ores. There is a large deposit of titanium and zirconium ores in the basin of the Pyana River, one of the five largest deposits of titanium and zirconium in Russia. Forests cover about 53% of the territory.

The main industries are engineering, metalworking, chemical and petrochemical industries, forestry, woodworking and paper industries. Machine-building and metal working industries produce trucks and cars, buses, automobile parts, river and sea ships, automobile and ship motors, planes, tools, gadgets, instruments, equipment for chemical, light, food industries, TV-sets etc. Art handicrafts are developed (Khokhloma and Gorodets painting).

The following crops are grown: rye, oats, barley, wheat, buckwheat, sugar beets. Potatoes and onions are grown too. Meat and milk cattle-, pig- and poultry-breeding are developed. Gorky Railway passes through the territory of the region. The rivers of Volga, Oka, Vetluga, Sura are navigable.

Attractions of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast

A lot of architectural monuments can be found in the capital city of the region - Nizhny Novgorod (Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Stroganov Church, Staroyarmarochny Cathedral, and others).

Nizhny Novgorod Oblast has several unique natural objects : Kerzhensky reserve, Ichalkovsky reserve, Vadskoe Lake and Lake Svetloyar (according to legend, the mythical town of Kitezh is situated at the bottom of this lake).

Boldino State Literary-Memorial and Natural Museum-Reserve of A.S. Pushkin is located in the village of Bolshoye Boldino. A.S.Pushkin, the most famous Russian poet, lived and worked there.

On the left bank of the Oka River, near the city of Dzerzhinsk, a unique architectural monument is located: 128 meter steel hyperboloid tower constructed by the engineer V.G.Shukhov in 1929. This tower was used as a power support across the river.

In the town of Vyksa , on the territory of the Vyksa Metallurgical Plant, you can find unique monuments of industrial architecture and technical art. They were also constructed by V.G.Shukhov at the end of the 19th century.

The city of Arzamas is rich in architectural monuments. The Cathedral of the Resurrection (1814-1842), located on Cathedral Square, is the most famous one.

In Gorodets , one of the oldest Russian settlement in the Middle Volga, founded in the 2nd half of the 12th century, there are museums dedicated to handicrafts and craftsmanship, life and history of the peoples of the Volga region.

Holy Trinity-Makarievo-Zheltovodsky Convent is located on the left bank of the Volga, in Lyskovsky district, near the village of Makarievo. It was founded in the first half of the 15th century. Diveyevo Convent , located near the town of Sarov, is a place of pilgrimage for the Orthodox. The relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov are placed in the Trinity Cathedral of the convent.

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How the Madone Gen 8 was designed, tested, and brought to life

The new do-it-all road bike is the results of a years-long effort using Trek's unique resources

Here’s a secret about Trek’s brand new Madone Gen 8. While the bike was designed for all racers — whether they love long, vicious climbs or laying down enough watts to bust a power meter — there was one person, above all, who engineers wanted to please: Mads Pedersen.

The Lidl-Trek rider deserves this distinction for good reason. The first is the most obvious: He’s a damn good bike racer. Pedersen has won a World Championship, multiple classics, at least one stage of all three Grand Tours, and the points jersey at the Vuelta a España. He is an influential leader within the team. If Mads likes something, people listen.

But in addition to his athletic gifts, he’s also a shrewd ride tester. Anyone who has listened to his post-race interviews knows that he doesn’t mince words. He’s honest and outspoken, but also fair. And he’s as meticulous and in-tune with his equipment as perhaps any bike rider in the world. His feedback has become a barometer by which not just Trek bikes are judged, but products like helmets , too.

Mads Pedersen won the first ever WorldTour race on the Madone Gen 8 when he took Stage 1 of the Critérium du Dauphiné earlier this month. | Photo by Dario Belingheri/Getty Images

“His honesty is believable,” says Scott Daubert, who oversees equipment for Trek’s racing programs. “He’s never asking for something that he doesn’t need. And he’s thoughtful about what he’s asking for. If we’ve got something we want to produce for consumers, and he picks it, then we know we’re all on the same page.”

Last October, on a team visit to Trek headquarters in Waterloo, Wisc., Trek’s road bike engineers took the decorated Dane out for one of the final road tests for the new Madone. After two years of simulations, prototypes, and testing, they had honed the shape of the bike and needed to make one last decision on its carbon laminate. Pedersen had already started his offseason. He had been off his bike for several days after a trip to China. He was worried at the time that he wouldn’t be able to give the bike a fair evaluation, especially while riding on rural, sub-WorldTour quality Wisconsin roads.

Tony Gallopin testing an early version of the Madone Gen 8 at December team camp in 2022.

Trek design engineer Adam Bird handed Pedersen the first of two laminate options — specifically, the option that he secretly hoped Pedersen would prefer. Bird and a cadre of internal ride testers all agreed that it was the best version of the bike, but they had another version ready with a different carbon layup just in case.

“We’re nervous because, of course, he didn’t know what was what. We just gave him two bikes,” Bird says. “He didn’t know that one of them was the bike we wanted him to like. So there was the potential that he picks the other one, or he doesn’t like either of them. We’d make it work, but it’d mean a lot more work, and it would affect the production. 

“But after he rode the first one, he loved it, and we were like, ‘Yes, we got it.'”

Prototype frames ready to go for Circle, Square, Triangle testing among Trek's internal riders.

If that sounds like Trek’s engineers slayed their final boss a little easily … well, yes, maybe they did. But that’s because they had been preparing for the moment for a very long time. Pedersen’s ride test was one of the very last steps of a long, slow, iterative process. The goal from the jump was to make “the ultimate race bike,” merging two road racing platforms — the ultra-light Émonda and the ultra-fast Madone — into one do-it-all speed machine. Making two great bikes better, at the same time, is exactly as agonizingly hard as it sounds. 

Research and development on the new Madone technically started in Summer of 2021. Trek, at the time, was planning on introducing an Émonda Gen 4 to be released in 2023, but in the course of development, engineers realized that they could significantly improve the bike’s pure speed. Rather than try to make an even lighter Émonda that offered little in terms of aerodynamic improvements, they pursued the Holy Grail: A bike that had the best of weight and aero benefits. 

Adam Bird on site at road team camp in December, 2022.

Trek’s road engineers restarted development towards this goal in late 2021 by cutting alloy frames to put into wind tunnel testing to refine the Madone Gen 7’s already best-in-class design. Once they settled on the shape of the frame, they made a tool that could create carbon prototype frames for ride testing. 

The next step was assembling an elite A-Team of ride testers from within Trek HQ. The Bicycle Company has a lot of fast riders within its walls who are eager to lend their legs towards the pursuit of science. The core group was refined down to Trek store design manager Justin Marshall, road bikes and Project One director Jordan Roessingh, former road product manager Max Ackermann, and Daubert, who in addition to his duties in the Trek Race Shop also won a U.S. national cyclocross title last December. Those riders are not only fast, they are well known for their equipment acumen and ability to detect and vocalize subtle differences in ride quality from minor changes. 

Scott Daubert putting the Madone Gen 8 through the paces.

“Trek wanted a lighter Madone. So then it kind of made sense to go, ‘OK, let’s really focus on making an aerodynamic bike lighter,'” Daubert says. “There were no holds barred.” 

That detectability group did their first ride test in November of 2022 in California. There, they did Round 1 of “Circle, Square, Triangle.” In order to avoid even an ounce of unconscious bias seeping into rider feedback, engineers didn’t label the bikes “A, B, C” or “1, 2, 3.” Riders would ride Circle and Square back-to-back, then say which they liked better. Then they’d repeat the process with Square vs. Triangle, and Triangle vs. Circle, and hope that a clear winner emerged from the group. 

Keeping bike setups consistent across tests was paramount to the process. Every time riders swapped bikes, they made sure they were using the exact same wheels and tires, and that bike fits were perfectly aligned, from saddle heights to stem lengths. Bird recalls Roessingh feeling hesitant to give feedback after one ride test because the brake lever throw — the distance between the brake lever and the grip — had been different from one bike to the other.

Early IsoFlow.

Trek’s engineers are an empirically-minded species, but bike design isn’t an exact science.

“Sometimes you contradict yourself. You might not like a bike one time, but like it another time, or vice versa,” Daubert says. “It’s really frustrating if you’re trying to hone your detecting skills, but that’s the way we do it.”

The bike first went in front of Lidl-Trek riders in December of 2022 at team camp in Spain. Otto Vergaerde and former road captain Tony Gallopin took out the prototype bike (at that point, it had no name — Madone, Émonda, or otherwise) and did their own Circle, Square, Triangle testing. Their feedback largely aligned with the internal group’s, which was an important breakthrough: It meant that the test riders in Waterloo were dialed in to what the largely Europe-based pros felt they needed to win.

The bike being worked on during a camp test ride.

The internal group did a series of ride tests at Wildcat State Park in the ensuing months, roughly two hours away from Trek headquarters. Wisconsin may not have any climbs rivaling the Alps or the Pyrenees, but Wildcat’s easily repeatable switchbacks did the job. There, the riders continued the Circle, Square, Triangle process, largely testing new laminates and subtle tweaks to the frame. 

The engineers’ biggest headache wasn’t necessarily making an already fast bike lighter. The Madone Gen 7 gave the Gen 8 team a solid foundation to apply weight-saving techniques that it had developed. The early prototypes received overwhelmingly positive feedback in both climbing and sprinting, suggesting that Trek had achieved its ultimate goal. But there was still one aspect in which the older platforms reigned supreme. 

Otto Vergaerde pushing the pace.

“Throughout the whole day, all the feedback was super positive,” Bird says. “And at the end of the day they compared it to the Madone Gen 7, and I remember Max [Ackermann] telling me, ‘I thought this descent was just super technical and I wasn’t pushing the bike hard enough, but then I rode the Gen 7, and that thing felt like it was on rails.'”

According to Bird, there was no eureka moment to fix the Madone Gen 8’s descending capabilities. Instead, his team began an arduous process of increasing and decreasing stiffness in certain areas of the bike, testing those changes, and gradually reshaping the ride feel to a point where it seemed like the bike could truly do everything well.

“I think from the first couple of test rides, we did not have a good enough product. We kept comparing it to the Madone Gen 7 and the new bike couldn’t measure up,” Daubert says. “And then there was a day when we finally were like, ‘OK, now we got it. Now we’ve improved on the old bike.'”

The internal ride crew taking a break in California.

The internal group did their final test ride in August, 2023, in North Carolina, where a longtime road rider on a competitor’s bike joined the group and sung the Madone’s praises. The same two versions of the bike that Pedersen rode in October went to December team camp in Spain where other top Lidl-Trek riders like Elisa Longo Borghini, Giulio Ciccone, and Jasper Stuyven confirmed exactly what Pedersen and everyone else had experienced.

Longo Borghini had so much faith in Trek’s process, she didn’t bother trying the second version.

“I was like, ‘Well, we want to give you options.’ And she was like, ‘Do I have to? I like this one.'” Bird says. “The riders were sitting on the Madone Gen 8, and they were like, ‘We love the way this descends.’ Over a year ago, we were like, ‘How are we going to figure this out?’ And now we’ve got something excellent.”

In all, Bird estimates that between 30-40 different prototypes were made for the Madone Gen 8, which includes models that were made solely for wind tunnel testing, and roughly 25 carbon laminates, eight of which made it to road testing.

The finished product.

That time, effort, and endless Circle, Square, Triangle testing resulted in a bike that is truly special, with near universal acclaim from Trek’s most demanding customers: The pros whose livelihoods depend on world class equipment. In the end, they had just one outstanding complaint about the bike after the design was finalized and sent to mass production in early 2024. 

“They wanted to ride it earlier,” Daubert says. “They actually asked to race it at Roubaix and Flanders this year. That would have been a few months ahead of when Trek was able to provide enough bikes. But they were calling Trek to say, ‘Hey, we want to ride this now, can you change your launch?'”

The ultimate race bike

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