Ganna, Arrieta & Gall
Ganna put his signature to a three-year contract with his new team, ending an eight-year relationship with INEOS. “I am really looking forward to next year with such a big team like Lidl-Trek,” Ganna said in a statement. “I am super proud to join and I really can’t wait for the first training camp and to start the season in the best way possible. After eight years with my current team, opening a new chapter is super nice and I feel great motivation for the season.”
The super-quick Ganna joins a team that has been spending money hand over fist in the transfer market. So far, Lidl has also signed Igor Arrieta (from UAE Team Emirates–XRG), Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) and Felix Gall and Gregor Mühlberger (both from Decathlon CMA CGM), among others. But the biggest signing of the season so far has to be that of 2024 Tour de France Femmes winner Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney by Lidl-Trek’s women’s team.
“I felt the team had a plan, trust and belief in me,” she said in a statement. “I knew that when we joined forces we could aim for the highest dreams.” Though the Polish woman has won the Tour, she must have been frustrated by finishing second or third to Demi Vollering and is clearly looking to find the next level. Niewiadoma-Phinney won only one race this year but finished on the podium 10 times.
Abandoning the ship?
Netcompany INEOS has lost 16 riders this fall – that is more than half the team – either by retirement, contract end or contract break. In addition to Ganna, those exiting what looks like a sinking ship include such top riders as Andrew August, Axel Laurance, Magnus Sheffield, Ben Turner and Sam Watson. Not all of the riders who left have found new teams yet, which suggests that the divorce was done in a hurry, to clear the decks for a major reshuffle.
INEOS did sign the climbers Harold Tejada (from XDS Astana) and Markel Belogi (EF Education–EasyPost), so there’s obviously a method to this transfer madness. But how is the team going to replace a rider like Ganna? Well, maybe they have already found someone potentially better. The team inked 18-year-old Benjamín Noval right out of the academy. Why? Because the young Spaniard this year won the junior world championship road race and time trial – and the European time trial championship as well (he finished 12th in the road race; a bad day, no doubt).
Cleaning house
It’s still fairly early in the transfer market, and more big deals are sure to be announced before the end of the year. Netcompany INEOS still lacks a bona fide Grand Tour challenger. Oscar Onley still looks to have promise, but his limits have been exposed. Will they make a desperate high-stakes pitch for Paul Seixas? He would certainly be the answer to their prayers. In any case, the team has to do something because there are currently only 16 riders on its squad. That is no doubt part of a plan. What the plan is nobody knows.
As for Lidl-Trek, we can probably expect one or two more big signings. Juan Ayuso, whom the team signed last year, has been a disappointment and far from the big-time Grand Tour rider he claimed to be. Like INEOS, Lidl also lost several good riders this month, the biggest of whom was Giulio Ciccone, last seen coming in third at Il Lombardia. He signed with Tom Pidcock’s Pinarello Q36.5 and should be a big help in the Grand Tour mountains.
“After eight years with the same team, this is a big decision, but one I genuinely wanted to make,” the Italian said in a statement. “I feel I still have a lot to give, and I needed a new challenge, fresh motivation and an environment where I could feel at home.”
He no doubt hopes that his run of recent close losses in big races will come to an end. He also won only one race this year, but finished on the podium 11 times, including that dramatic second place to Remco Evenepoel in the European road race championship, which was decided by a photo finish, which showed Ciccone losing by only about 1.25cm. It was very, very close.
Both Lidl-Trek, which won 30 races this year, and Netcompany INEOS, which registered 36 victories, are clearly cleaning house to be able to match the bigger teams in 2027. For the British team, that means plenty of activity in the coming months and many more signings. Netcompany, which came to INEOS late last year, is clearly investing aggressively.
Lidl-Trek also still needs a potential Grand Tour winner. In Ciccone, Ayuso, Gall and Mattias Skjelmose, they now have four riders capable of finishing on a Grand Tour podium but not of winning. I’m sure they also keep the phone number and email address of Seixas’s agent in a secure place.