Lidl-Trek have added a second stepping stone on the development path to WorldTour racing, Lidl-Trek Junior Racing launching for the 2026 season with 10 full-time riders, and British rider Leon Atkins confirmed as one of three guest riders.
The squad for 16 to 18-year-old junior men completes a structured programme for the WorldTour team alongside the Lidl-Trek Future Racing squad, launched in 2024 for under-23 riders. The new team partners with a regional German squad, Baden-Württemberg, and will begin their season at the Tour du Bocage et de l’Ernée 53 on March 28-29.
"Creating Lidl-Trek Junior Racing gives us a level of structure in our scouting process that we haven’t had before – one that allows us to detect talent earlier and give young riders a clear, supported pathway toward the development team," Josu Larrazabal, head of coaching, scouting and academy at Lidl-Trek, said in a press statement.
"Because the team is registered as a Club Team, it doesn’t conflict with races where national federations take part, which means we can build the best possible race programme around each rider. It’s also a significant step forward in managing the transition from junior to under-23 level."
Club teams are becoming a preferred path for young riders who may have previously chosen national teams. They offer a consistent environment for coaching and competition, and now that Nations Cup races are no longer on the calendar, development teams can compete in top races like Tour de L'Avenir, which were formerly only for national teams.
Ten of the 13 riders are from Germany in alignment with the regional team affiliation and will be the team's full-time roster.
Three further riders will "join the team as guest riders for select events", Lidl-Trek said, racing with their existing teams for the rest of the year.
Those three international guest riders are Austrian junior road champion Michael Hetteger, Trophée Madiot-Crédit Mutuel champion Julien Breugnot of France and British junior time trial champion and track star Atkins.
Breugnot rides for CC Étupes whilst Atkins is on the CAMS Majaco team, which is supported by Ineos Grenadiers, but he is already pinned to join Lidl-Trek Future Racing as an under-23 in 2027.
"Just as we’ve seen with the progression of our U23 riders to the WorldTour, knowing athletes from race situations, from training day-to-day, from how they handle their lives outside of cycling – that knowledge is invaluable. This programme improves our ability to find and develop the very best junior talent, and I’m genuinely excited about what that means for the future of this team,” Larrazabal added.
As a club team, Lidl-Trek Junior Racing joins the ranks of four other development squads that are directly affiliated to a WorldTour team: Cannibal-Victorious U19 Development, Decathlon CMA CGM Juniors Team, Groupama-FDJ United and Soudal-QuickStep U19.
Several top-tier teams have partnerships with existing club teams: EF Education works with EF Education-ONTO (USA), Visma-Lease a Bike with JEGG-SKIL-DJR (Netherlands), Ineos Grenadiers with CAMS Majaco (Great Britain) and Hot Tubes Development (USA), while Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe works with Grenke-Auto Eder (Germany).
Many of these junior club teams will use the Tour du Bocage et de l’Ernée 53 in France as a barometer to test talent. Past winners of the two-day race include Jarno Widar, now with Lotto Intermarché, and Ashlin Barry, who competes with the Visma-Lease a Bike Development team.
Other races planned for this season include Côte d’Or Classic Juniors in France, RF LVM Saarland Trofeo in Germany and RF Keizer der Juniores in Belgium.
Lidl-Trek Junior Racing 2026 roster
- Sean Arnold (Germany)
- Timo Burger (Germany)
- Luan Elsäßer (Germany)
- Louis Joos (Germany)
- Noah Kunz (Germany)
- Mathis Müller (Germany)
- Moritz Schwarzer (Germany)
- Josh Tietjen (Germany)
- Baltasar Waldmüller (Germany)
- Timo Zabel (Germany)
- Leon Atkins (United Kingdom) – guest rider
- Julien Breugnot (France) – guest rider
- Michael Hetteger (Austria) – guest rider
Note: this story was updated on March 19, 2026 to reflect a clarification issued by Lidl-Trek about the guest rider status of three riders.
