A sum greater than yearly budgets of some ProTeams, it’s a massive commitment for the German team he believes: “Of course, with a three-year contract, they can split it over three years, but it’s a big gamble.”
Because with such sums also come expectations, higher than usual. “He has to win a major one-day race, which is certainly possible,” reckons Bruyneel. “He has to win at least one of the seven major stage races, like Paris-Nice, the Basque Country, Switzerland, or something like that. And he has to be on the podium of a Grand Tour. And the World Time Trial Championship is almost a guarantee.”
Is Grand Tour podium even on the cards?
That Grand Tour result would appear to be the biggest challenge, even though a Monumental victory against Tadej Pogacar cannot be taken as granted either. However Evenepoel doesn’t need to immediately podium a Tour. He can also lean back on one of his new teammates and co-leaders, namedly Florian Lipowitz who will be defending his third place from year earlier.
“It’s not a bad thing to have Lipowitz around. They’re not the favorites to win the Tour, so you can’t bet everything on someone who’s already stood on the podium once. A lot can go wrong, because even if Lipowitz improves, he still won’t be anywhere near Pogacar or Vingegaard,” Bruyneel weighs pros and cons.
Juan Ayuso’s astronomical move
“It’s the second major transfer where there was a buyout fee,” said Bruyneel. Sources report that the fee was 10 million euros. “That’s crazy.”
Juan Ayuso at the 2026 season’s Lidl-Trek press conference
And in any case, it’s not like they can go to a supermarket and hire a local fishmonger hoping he’ll become the next Jonas Vingegaard… “If you can’t have those two, who can you get? Ayuso is very interesting because he’s so young,” explains the former team director. “He’s a huge talent: you don’t just finish third in the Vuelta at 19. They didn’t have a major leader in the general classification, so it’s a good combination.”