2024 UCI Gravel World Champion Marine Lenehan, 27, in only her third season of amateur racing has earned a coveted trial contract to race for the Lidl-Trek professional WorldTour team, according to Sticky Bottle.

“I’ve been keeping it quiet because I didn’t want to say anything until I knew it was certain,” Lenehan revealed to Sticky Bottle last week.

Since her entry into the sport during the pandemic, the Irish cyclist has consistently finished on the podium at gran fondos, gravel races, road races and even criteriums for Irish team Dan Morrissey Pissie.

Her palmares include winning the Gravel World Championship, Irish Criterium Championship, Irish eSports Championship, European Gran Fondo Championship, Gran Fondo Strade Bianchi, as well as podium finishes at numerous UCI Gran Fondo World Series and L’Etape events.

After attending a January team training camp in Spain, Lenehan was informed that she made the cut and would line up as a stagiaire for the Lidl-Trek women’s squad at the Tour de Pologne in August, with hopes of proving she has what it takes to make the team’s 2026 roster.

Lenehan is following in the footsteps Dutch cyclist Bart Lemmen, who over a similar timeframe went from riding gran fondos to racing in the 2024 Tour de France for men’s WorldTour team Visma-Lease a Bike.

Photo Credit: Instagram/marinelenehan

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