Emma Norsgaard and Mikkel Bjerg have announced that they are expecting a child, with Norsgaard sharing the news on Instagram alongside the line: “Our greatest victory yet: Baby Norsgaard Bjerg.”
The Danish couple, both established WorldTour professionals, revealed the news in a light-hearted post, with Norsgaard writing that they had “started studying for our next project”. No due date or further details around her racing plans have been made public.
The announcement comes during Norsgaard’s second season with Lidl-Trek, where she is under contract until the end of 2027. That gives the Danish rider long-term security with the American team as she prepares for a new chapter away from racing.
Photo Credit: GettyNorsgaard’s 2026 season so far
Norsgaard has raced a selective but solid 2026 campaign to this point, with her best results showing the same all-round profile that has defined much of her career.
Her standout result so far this season came in January, when she finished sixth at the Tour Down Under one-day race. She then placed eighth on the opening stage of the UAE Tour Women in February, finishing 11th overall after three stages.
In March, she took ninth at Nokere Koerse, a race well suited to riders who can handle positioning, cobbles and a hard sprint-style finale. More recently, she finished seventh in the Danish national time trial, an event she has won four times during her career.
| Date | Result | Race |
|---|---|---|
| 21 January | 6th | Tour Down Under – One Day |
| 5 February | 8th | UAE Tour Women stage 1 |
| 5-7 February | 11th overall | UAE Tour Women |
| 18 March | 9th | Nokere Koerse |
| 26 June | 7th | Danish national time trial |
Those results underline her continued value as a versatile rider rather than a pure sprinter. Norsgaard has the speed to finish well from reduced groups, but she has also built a career on time-trial strength, Classics-style durability and the ability to perform in mixed terrain.
A career built on versatility
Norsgaard’s palmarès has always stretched across different types of racing. She won the Danish national road race title as a teenager in 2016, then added another national road title in 2020. Her time-trial record has been even more consistent, with Danish national time-trial titles in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Internationally, her biggest victories have come in stage races and one-day events. She won Le Samyn des Dames in 2021, took a stage of the Giro d’Italia Women the same year and also claimed overall victory at Festival Elsy Jacobs after winning two stages.
Her most high-profile win came at the 2023 Tour de France Femmes, where she won stage 6 after surviving from the breakaway into Blagnac. It remains one of the defining performances of her career: a victory built on timing, endurance and refusal to be caught by a fast-closing bunch.
| Year | Major win |
|---|---|
| 2016 | Danish road race title |
| 2020 | Danish road race title |
| 2021 | Le Samyn des Dames |
| 2021 | Giro d’Italia Women stage 6 |
| 2021 | Festival Elsy Jacobs overall |
| 2021 | Danish time trial title |
| 2022 | Danish time trial title |
| 2023 | Tour de France Femmes stage 6 |
| 2023 | Danish time trial title |
| 2024 | Danish time trial title |
Lidl-Trek contract runs through 2027
Norsgaard joined Lidl-Trek from Movistar on a three-year deal running from 2025 through the end of 2027. At the time, the move was presented as a major addition to the team’s women’s roster, with Norsgaard bringing sprint strength, Classics ability and experience from the biggest races.
That contract position is important context now. Pregnancy and maternity timelines are deeply personal, and Norsgaard has not publicly set out what the announcement means for the rest of her 2026 season. But unlike a rider approaching the end of a contract, she has a deal in place beyond this year.
Lidl-Trek have built one of the strongest women’s squads in the peloton, and Norsgaard’s role there has always been about more than just one result. She offers experience, tactical value and the ability to contribute across Classics, sprint stages and selective one-day races.
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Photo Credit: Getty
A major personal update for one of Denmark’s best-known cycling couples
The announcement also adds another chapter to one of Danish cycling’s most recognisable racing couples. Mikkel Bjerg, a powerful time-triallist and key team rider at UAE Team Emirates XRG, has built his own WorldTour career around engine-room work, time trials and support roles at the highest level.
For Norsgaard, the news comes after a decade in which she has developed from a teenage Danish national champion into a Tour de France Femmes stage winner and established WorldTour rider.
Her message was short, warm and deliberately understated. But for a rider whose career has included national titles, Grand Tour stage wins and a major move to Lidl-Trek, the phrase “greatest victory yet” made the point clearly enough.
Norsgaard and Bjerg are now preparing for a different kind of project, and one that sits well beyond any result sheet.
