The British Tao Geoghegan Hart, winner of the 2020 Giro, and the Dane Mattias Skjelmosewinner of the 2023 Tour of Switzerland, will assume the Lidl Trek stripes as leaders in the Tour de France, according to the plan designed by the American team.
Tao Geoghegan, who left the Ineos-Grenadiers team to sign for the American structure, will return to compete in the Vuelta al Algarve from February 15 to 19 once he recovers from a hip fracture sustained in the Giro d’Italia . His goal is the Tour de France, where he will participate for the second time and will be joined by the young Dane Mattias Skjelmose and the sprinter Mads Pedersen.
Italian sprinter Jonathan Milan, one of Lidl-Trek’s ten new signings, will start his season at the Vuelta a la Comunidad Valenciana (from February 1 to 5) before tackling an “extensive campaign of classic stones” with the leaders of the classics, Pedersen and Jasper Stuyven.
The Italian Giulio Ciccone will be the team leader at Italy is spinningwhile Jasper Stuyven and new signing Andrea Bagioli will also go to the pink race.
Geoghegan Hart, Milan and Bagioli were joined on the Lidl Trek by other riders such as Tim Declercq, Simone Consonni, Ryan Gibbons, Fabio Felline, Carlos Verona, Sam Oomen and Patrick Konrad.
While the men’s team will begin its campaign at the Tour Down Under next month, the Lidl-Trek Women’s WorldTour team will begin the UAE Tour Women (February 9-12), where Elisa Longo Borghini and Gaia Realini will look to recreate the their double early this year.
Longo Borghini will be joined in the spring classics by former world champions Elisa Balsamo and Lizzie Deignan, as well as Ellen van Dijk, who will return after her pregnancy.
The Italian will compete in the three women’s Grand Tours of the Giro Donne, Tour de France Femmes and La Vuelta Femenina next season.
Deignan and Realini will also face the big three, while Balsamo will compete in both the Giro and the Tour, the team confirmed.
Source: La Verdad
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