Lidl-Trek are thrilled to reveal that Swede Jakob Söderqvist will step into its WorldTour squad with a two-year contract starting January 1, 2026.
Söderqvist, 21, has repeatedly proven his ability as a time-triallist since joining the American team’s development structure, Lidl-Trek Future Racing. In 2024 he finished 2nd in the Tour de la Provence prologue, behind teammate Mads Pedersen, then went onto further success against the clock at the Giro Next Gen and Swedish championships, before collecting two silver medals at the under-23 World and European championships. His success wasn’t limited to the time trial bike, as he added wins on the road in the Tour de Bretagne and Flèche du Sud to his palmarès.
Over the course of the year, Söderqvist claimed a remarkable seven victories: four time trials, two road stages, and one general classification.
Although it was clear that the Swede had the talent to jump to the WorldTour, Lidl-Trek’s performance team believed that Söderqvist would benefit from a further year in the development squad to ease the transition to the WorldTour. In 2025, Jakob has been racing a combination of races with the development team alongside a host of lower-ranked races with the elites, a plan designed to help him hit the ground running in 2026 when he would join the WorldTour team full-time.
Söderqvist showed time and time again that there is far more to him than his prowess against the clock. In Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana he impressed riding in support of Jonathan Milan, seamlessly fitting into a top-level sprint train. A couple of months later he was instrumental in Edward Theuns’ emotional victory at Bredene-Koksijde Classic, almost single-handedly keeping the chasing peloton at bay.
Most recently, on this past Sunday in Hell, Söderqvist more than proved his classics credentials after dominating Paris-Roubaix Espoirs with Albert Withen Philipsen. Although the win was awarded to the Dane, the pair crossed the line arm in arm, celebrating their joint achievement with an iconic image that shows just how bright the future is for Lidl-Trek.
Speaking of his path to join the WorldTour with Lidl-Trek, Jakob Söderqvist said, “Stepping into the WorldTour team means the start of a new chapter in my sporting career and a chapter where the possibilities are endless. All these things are pieces that I just dreamed of having before. I realised that I wanted to see how good I could become, so this chapter is about when I have these possibilities and try to make the most of them and see how far we can go.
“The confirmation that I would join the WorldTour team wasn’t sudden, but it was more a build-up since I was doing good results last year and felt like I got the kind of confirmation that it could be around the corner. I knew it was going well, but at the same time I was so busy with everything at that point, so I didn’t really reflect on it much. I just knew that I was on the way, but then actually sitting down and realising what position I am in in the sport is quite unreal and its also unreal how quickly it progressed from just a year or two ago when I didn’t know if it would be possible to make it professional. Now we are here and this is a big relief in a way, but also something that excites me a lot to really just see how I can work with this from now on in my own matter together with a team on the highest level and it’s just, yeah, a really fun prospect.
“I chose to turn pro with Lidl-Trek because I want to have influence and play an active role in deciding what I’m doing, not just following a copy/paste plan that some teams give you. Lidl-Trek have really shown that we are on the same page with this and I really feel at home. It’s so personal, like relationships within the team. I have already some really, really good close friends that I invite my home and we share ideas. We care about each other and share joy in each other’s success really, which you don’t find on the same level on other teams.
“Taking this extra year with the development team has been a good choice. It’s really just dividing the step up into two pieces, getting more support towards the level where the WorldTour is, but without the expectation. All the pressure and all the professionalism to live up to and everything, you can, like ease into it. I feel like with the two steps, there’s less risk and less things that could be hard for you to get your head around when you do make the step up.
“Already this year, my development was beyond what I would expect and maybe this comes around again, maybe it’s only a small step more, but for sure I’m in a good position now and I feel like when opportunities come, I have the tools to take advantage of them.”
Sebastian Andersen, Lidl-Trek Future Racing DS said, “I think Jakob has a huge potential. He’s fairly new to cycling and he is a bit of a rough diamond in the sport. He possesses a big engine and he has incredible power, which we’ve seen all through last year. First in Provence, where he almost beat a guy like Mads in the Prologue. But he’s not only doing it once, he’s done it several times. Again, in the Tour de Bretagne, the way he won – it was a super hard day with rain and tough terrain, and he really put everybody in the peloton on the limit. Then, he performed again at the Giro Next Gen, winning the Prologue. He was quite confident about that as he had focused on it well. And then the results he achieved at the Swedish national championships, the Europeans and the Worlds – it’s a clear sign of his great potential.
“This year Jakob has been doing a middle step, where he has been racing a little bit with the WorldTour team as well, learning even more, and putting another level on top of his already good starting point to help him be more consistent in his approach of racing. Doing a transitional year is great – just because you had one good season, doesn’t mean that you know everything. And for Jakob to have the confidence and the trust in us, believing that this is a good plan for him, is a sign of a good way of working together.”
