Wheel Talk Newsletter: Again, for the people in the back

Abby Mickey

Cor Vos

One of the repeated topics that the Wheel Talk podcast constantly refers back to is the importance of leadership, and so it feels a bit validating that the Dutch federation proved our point with their teams at the World Championships and the European Championships. Admittedly, Demi Vollering would have been hard to beat in both race scenarios, but the team around her made it impossible, and it wasn’t only the riders who rode in support of her.

In the closing kilometres of the Euros, Vollering pointed to her head, but it wasn’t her usual call to the mental game; she was pointing to a sticker of Laurens ten Dam, coach for the women’s Dutch squad, on the back of her helmet. It was a lovely call-out to someone who has helped to completely turn around the women’s program in the Netherlands and laid the foundation for Vollering to be the top contender going into the Olympic Games in LA in 2028.

The sticker was originally the work of Lorena Wiebes and first worn at Maastricht Gravel Worlds, which she won. Wiebes allegedly called up Ten Dam ahead of the Europeans and asked to be included in the squad as a domestique. She supplied stickers for the whole team, and they all wore them on their helmets on Saturday.

So once again, for the people in the back, a team is only as strong as management, and good management can make all the difference in the world.

Anyway, onto the newsletter.

Placeholder

Abby Mickey | Senior Editor

First things first: Transfers are rolling in…

As of Tuesday… Floortje Mackaij will move from Movistar, where she has been for four years, to VolkerWessels on a one-year deal.

Also on Tuesday… Georgia Baker announced she will depart Liv-AlUla-Jayco, having been there since 2022 (and also for one season in 2017), for Canyon-SRAM. Baker and the German team have agreed to a two-year deal.

On Monday, FDJ United-Suez announced the signing of Amandine Muller from AG Insurance-Soudal’s development team …

And speaking of development teams …

UAE Team L’IMAD announced on Monday that they will not continue with their devo team after five years.

Tuesday racing in October!

First up, Tre Valli Varesine, which featured some quality racing from teams like UAE Team L’IMAD and Lidl-Trek. It ultimately came down to a reduced sprint won by Eleonora Gasparrini of UAE Team L’IMAD ahead of Sarah Van Dam (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly).

There are no highlights of the race (yet), but there was live coverage on YouTube that can be watched back.

Then there was Binche Chimay Binche, won in a hectic sprint by Linda Riedmann (Lotto Intermarché) ahead of Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech) and Nicole Steigenga (AG Insurance-Soudal).

Gaia Realini to leave Lidl-Trek one year ahead of schedule

On Monday, Lidl-Trek announced that Gaia Realini will part ways with the German team a year early. The Italian was set to race for the team through 2027 but instead will depart at the end of this season after four years together.

Realini described her time at Lidl-Trek as “precious” and said that being part of the squad contributed to her personal growth and “brought so many great emotions”. She was one of the team’s key climbers from the moment she signed in 2023. When she made the move, it was fresh from a breakthrough performance at the Giro d’Italia in 2022 while riding for Isolmant-Premac-Vittoria, an Italian Continental team.

“Following open and constructive conversations, Lidl-Trek and Gaia Realini have reached the mutual decision to part ways at the end of 2026 after four seasons together,” the statement from Lidl-Trek said.

Many of Realini’s top results came in her early years with Lidl-Trek. In 2023, she won the Trofeo Oro and finished third overall at both the Vuelta Femenina and the Giro. She was also second at the UAE Tour in her first year with Lidl-Trek, behind her then teammate Elisa Longo Borghini. In 2024, she finished fifth in the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift and third at the Tour de Romandie, but crashed out of the Vuelta, and the following year she started to disappear from the top of the results sheet.

While preparing for her 2025 season, Realini crashed in training and fractured her elbow. Come springtime, she struggled to match the results she had secured in her first two years with the team, DNFing La Flèche Wallonne, a race she had finished third at in 2023.

Some of Realini’s absences from the big races for Lidl-Trek have been due to her own condition on the bike, but the addition of Niamh Fisher-Black and the rise of Isabella Holmgren have also meant that Lidl-Trek has filled the role of climber that Realini used to inhabit.

Tags: