After 4 years with Visma-Lease a Bike the two-time Dutch time trial champion Riejanne Markus is making the shift to Lidl-Trek, signing on for the subsequent three seasons.
The 29-year-old rider who began her biking profession with Parkhotel Valkenburg a decade in the past has been constructing to a brand new degree in current seasons and is trying to proceed that construct on the staff which since 2020 has been the closest challenger to SD Worx-Protime on the high of the rankings.
“For years, I’ve admired their pioneering function inside girls’s biking, offering the identical degree of help as their males’s staff; one thing that has impressed me deeply,” stated Markus within the Lidl-Trek announcement. “I’ve at all times been drawn to well-organized groups, and Lidl-Trek is famend for simply that. Plus, the environment among the many riders and workers seems incredible, and I can’t wait to be part of it.”
The brand new Lidl-Trek rider, who was additionally Dutch street race champion in 2022, stepped up the general podium of La Vuelta Femenina this yr, ending in second total each on the Spanish Grand Tour and on the Volta a Catalunya Femenina, with a win in between at Veenendaal-Veenendaal.
“I’ve massive objectives for the upcoming seasons, significantly focusing on GC in stage races and excelling in time trials,” stated Markus. “The European and World TT Championships are main aims for me, in addition to tackling the Tour de France, the Vuelta a España, and the hilly classics like Strade Bianche and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, which swimsuit my strengths completely.”
Markus supplies one other GC and time trial bow for the staff, which this yr gained the Giro d’Italia Girls with Elisa Longo Borghini, who was additionally on the rostrum of La Vuelta Femenina with Markus, although the Italian is anticipated to go away the squad in 2025.
“Riejanne has confirmed herself to be a pressure in each one-day races and stage races, and we’ve seen her take an enormous step up in current seasons,” stated Luca Guercilena, Normal Supervisor of Lidl-Trek. “She’s a rider whose ambition matches the drive of our staff, and we’re assured that with Lidl-Trek, she’ll proceed to make vital strides. Our R&D investments in aerodynamics will give her the instruments she must excel even additional, significantly on in time trials.
“Her qualities on the bike – climbing and time-trialling – will complement the remainder of the Group properly, permitting us to chase success in quite a lot of conditions. Bringing her into Lidl-Trek will make us extra aggressive all through the season, from the Classics to the Grand Excursions.”
Markus is the primary of the 2025 signing bulletins from the Lidl-Trek Girls’s WorldTour squad in a season which is ready for plenty of big-name biking transfers. Nonetheless, we already know the Dutch rider is ready to line up at Lidl-Trek alongside Elisa Balsamo, Lucinda Model, Gaia Realini and Shirin van Anrooij.
