Canadian sisters Ava and Isabella Holmgren and British expertise Isabel “Izzy” Sharp signed multi-year offers to make Lidl-Trek their new residence subsequent season. All three are simply 18 years previous and carry profitable multi-disciplinary resumes from the junior ranks to their debuts on the Ladies’s WorldTour.
Lidl-Trek confirmed a three-year contract with Sharp to take her via 2026, whereas the Holmgren duo might be a part of the workforce for the subsequent two years. Their growth might be guided by ladies’s workforce director Ina Teutenberg, in addition to Markel Irizar, expertise scout for LIdl-Trek and a part-time DS for the ladies’s workforce.
“Izzy Sharp had already been on our radar resulting from her good ends in the Nations Cups,” mentioned Josu Larrazabal, Lidl-Trek’s head of efficiency, who added that Ellen van Dijk went to see Sharp carry out at some races and had optimistic suggestions.
“Isabella and Ava Holmgren got here to us via our colleagues on the Trek Race Store, from the MTB and CX scene. We bought in touch with Isabella and Ava they usually had been each to creating extra on the highway facet.”
The Holmgren twins will not be similar, however have duplicated profession paths as youngsters throughout cyclocross, mountain bike and highway disciplines, performing for the Stimulus/Orbea programme in addition to etching their names within the historical past books for Staff Canada.
In February on the Cyclocross World Championships in Hoogerheide, Isabella received the gold medal within the junior ladies’s race whereas Ava took the silver, giving Canada the first-ever World titles within the self-discipline at any stage.
Then in August, on the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Glasgow, Isabella earned her second rainbow jersey within the junior ladies’s XCO occasion. She was additionally eighth within the junior ladies’s highway race. In the meantime, Ava holds the elite nationwide and junior Pan-Am titles in cyclocross.
“Being part of a WorldTour Staff was a long-term purpose of mine, so to have been approached with this superb alternative popping out of the junior class was barely surprising, however very thrilling,” mentioned Isabella Holmgren.
Her sister Ava echoed the passion, noting that it was a privilege to compete on the WorldTour stage as a first-year U23 rider. She additionally was excited to begin a brand new chapter in her sports activities profession alongside her sibling.
“I’ve had my eyes on this Staff for a few years though I’m solely 18 years previous. Whether or not it was cheering on a house favorite mountain bike rider, racing the Cyclocross World Cup on the Trek Headquarters, or watching Lizzie Deignan win the primary ever Paris-Roubaix. It’s no secret that the Trek household has superb applications, values, and success in every side of biking,” Ava mentioned.
Sharp received the silver medal within the ladies’s junior particular person time trial on the UCI Highway World Championships two weeks in the past. A winner on the highway within the junior ladies’s occasion at Gent-Wevelgem and on the GC on the three-day Omloop van Borsele, Sharp has additionally dazzled on the monitor. She partnered with Carys Lloyd to win the European title within the Madison in July, and final 12 months, she received the European Championship within the factors race.
“I’m actually excited but additionally nervous on the identical time. It’s a giant step however I’m actually glad to have the help of my dream workforce as I head into the world of elite biking,” mentioned Sharp, who turned her focus to biking from racing triathlons.
The trio will participate in smaller highway occasions at first of their growth as under-23 riders, and get alternatives to check themselves in WorldTour races.
“We imagine it makes extra sense to suit a growth construction inside our WorldTour program, which is able to enable the youthful riders the prospect to experience smaller races while surrounded by skilled professionals to assist information them,” Larrazabal mentioned. “If the time is correct and the traits go well with them, these creating riders can even get an opportunity to experience WorldTour races occasionally.
“These younger ladies may have a blended calendar of a number of the simpler WorldTour races and different stage races which can be a bit longer than they’ve been used to within the junior class. It’s actually vital that we maintain the prospect to win, which is why we construct up in direction of the WorldTour on this manner, that they maintain successful and luxuriate in that component of efficiency.”
Earlier this week Lidl-Trek introduced it might discipline a males’s growth workforce subsequent season. Among the many eight riders named to the roster included Louis Leidert of Germany, who was third within the junior males’s time trial on the World Championships in Scotland.