Shirin van Anrooij is set to leave Lidl-Trek at the end of the 2026 season and join Canyon SRAM, according to a report from WielerFlits.
The 24-year-old Dutch rider has spent her entire professional road career within the Trek structure, but multiple sources have told the Dutch outlet that she will make the move for 2027. It would take Van Anrooij from one German-licensed Women’s WorldTour team to another at a point where Canyon SRAM are preparing for a wider change in their leadership group.
Van Anrooij has not quite returned to the level she showed before surgery for iliac artery endofibrosis at the end of 2024, but the move makes sense as a longer-term investment. At 24, there is still considerable upside in a rider who has already won Trofeo Alfredo Binda, reached the Tour of Flanders podium and won the Tour de France Femmes young rider classification.
Six seasons with Lidl-Trek are coming to an end
Van Anrooij has been part of the Trek system since the beginning of her professional road career, developing from one of the sport’s standout young talents into a genuine Classics leader.
Her breakthrough period came across 2023 and 2024. She won Trofeo Alfredo Binda in 2023, finished third at Amstel Gold Race that spring and later won the Tour de l’Avenir Femmes overall after turning the final stage with a long-range attack. In 2024, she was second at Dwars door Vlaanderen, third at the Tour of Flanders, fourth at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and fifth at Strade Bianche.
She also won the young rider classification at the 2024 Tour de France Femmes, showing that her range extended beyond the Classics. Van Anrooij’s development through those years made Lidl-Trek’s decision to extend her contract through the end of 2026 an obvious one at the time.
Her full record with the team is collected on our Shirin van Anrooij rider page, while her previous contract extension was covered when Van Anrooij committed to Lidl-Trek through 2026.
Iliac artery surgery interrupted her rise
The key dividing line in Van Anrooij’s recent career came at the end of 2024, when persistent problems in her left leg were eventually traced to iliac artery endofibrosis.
She underwent surgery in October of that year after a narrowing of the external iliac artery was identified, forcing her to miss the following cyclocross season and begin a lengthy recovery.
That helps explain why her results since have not matched the run that preceded the operation. The 2023 and early-2024 version of Van Anrooij had established herself as a regular podium contender in the biggest northern Classics, whereas the comeback has understandably been more gradual.
There have still been encouraging signs, including winning the young rider classification at the recent Vuelta a Burgos. The fact that Canyon SRAM are prepared to bring her across now suggests they see the rider from before the surgery as a realistic level for her to return towards rather than something already left behind.
The original diagnosis and recovery were covered in our report on Shirin van Anrooij’s iliac artery surgery.
Canyon SRAM are preparing for a significant reset
The timing makes the reported transfer particularly interesting for Canyon SRAM.
The team’s 2026 structure is still built heavily around Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, alongside riders including Antonia Niedermaier, Zoe Bäckstedt, Chiara Consonni and Chloé Dygert. That wider roster and its competitive shape are covered in our Canyon SRAM 2026 Women’s WorldTour team guide.
But 2027 is set to look different.
According to WielerFlits, Niewiadoma-Phinney is heading in the opposite direction to Lidl-Trek, while the contracts of Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, Consonni, Dygert and Maike van der Duin are also due to expire. Van der Duin is reportedly attracting interest from Team Visma | Lease a Bike.
Van Anrooij is not a direct replacement for Niewiadoma-Phinney. Their strongest terrain and current roles are different, with Niewiadoma-Phinney established as a Tour and Ardennes leader while Van Anrooij’s best results have come primarily through the Classics and shorter stage races.
What she can provide is another rider capable of assuming responsibility in major races as Canyon SRAM reshape the squad around a new cycle.
Lidl-Trek lose another rider they developed from the beginning
For Lidl-Trek, the move means losing a rider closely associated with their development system at a time when the women’s squad is already evolving.
The retirements of Lizzie Deignan and Ellen van Dijk ahead of 2026 removed two long-standing leaders, while the current roster has placed greater responsibility on Elisa Balsamo, Niamh Fisher-Black and the next generation around them.
That transition was already one of the defining themes of our Lidl-Trek 2026 Women’s WorldTour team guide.
Van Anrooij had seemed a natural rider to help bridge those generations. She is experienced enough to lead major Classics but still young enough to develop substantially further.
If the reported Niewiadoma-Phinney move is completed as well, however, the two teams are effectively exchanging very different types of leaders. Lidl-Trek would gain an established Grand Tour and Ardennes reference, while Canyon SRAM would take on a younger Classics specialist whose ceiling may still be some way from fully defined.
No Tour de France Femmes for Van Anrooij in 2026
Van Anrooij is not part of Lidl-Trek’s Tour de France Femmes squad for the race beginning in Lausanne on Saturday.
The confirmed team is built around Niamh Fisher-Black for the harder stages and GC, with Elisa Balsamo providing the sprint option alongside Loes Adegeest, Lucinda Brand, Riejanne Markus and Amanda Spratt.
Her absence means there will be no final Tour appearance in Lidl-Trek colours after winning the white jersey in 2024.
It also fits the broader picture of a rider whose 2026 has been about rebuilding consistency after surgery rather than immediately returning to the schedule and level of her strongest seasons.
Cyclocross should remain part of the plan
The transfer also raises an obvious question about Van Anrooij’s cyclocross future.
Her road career at Lidl-Trek has been paired with racing for the Sven Nys-linked cyclocross structure now known as Glowi-Poetsbureau Lions. That relationship has made combining the disciplines straightforward, but the road move removes the direct Trek connection.
WielerFlits reports that Van Anrooij intends to continue racing cyclocross during the winter.
There is already a useful precedent at Canyon SRAM in Zoe Bäckstedt, who has continued combining a Women’s WorldTour road programme with high-level cyclocross. That suggests Van Anrooij’s desire to remain active in the discipline should not be an obstacle to the transfer.
For her, that matters. Cyclocross has never felt like an occasional winter diversion, with three World Cup victories during the 2022-23 season among the results that established her as one of the strongest all-round young riders in the sport.
Canyon SRAM could give Van Anrooij room to become a leader again
The most interesting part of the move is not simply that Van Anrooij is leaving after six seasons.
It is what Canyon SRAM could ask her to become.
Before the artery problem, her trajectory was clearly towards regular leadership in the cobbled Classics, with enough climbing and stage-racing ability to broaden that programme well beyond Flanders. She had already won a major Italian Classic, stood on the podium at De Ronde and shown enough versatility to win both the Tour de l’Avenir Femmes and the Tour’s young rider classification.
The surgery interrupted that progression, but it did not erase it.
Canyon SRAM have long been willing to give young riders space to race aggressively rather than reducing them to narrowly defined support roles. As the team prepares for a significant roster change, Van Anrooij should arrive with a genuine opportunity to rebuild herself as one of its main Classics leaders.
For Lidl-Trek, it would end one of the longest development relationships in their current women’s squad. For Van Anrooij, the reported move looks less like a simple change of colours and more like a chance to restart the trajectory that made her one of the most compelling young riders in the peloton before surgery disrupted it.
