Blanka Vas will join Lidl-Trek from October on a contract running through the end of 2028, bringing her long spell with Team SD Worx-Protime to an earlier conclusion than previously expected.
The 25-year-old Hungarian will make the switch in time for the 2026-27 cyclocross season before beginning her first full road campaign with Lidl-Trek in 2027. Vas had previously been contracted to SD Worx-Protime through the end of 2027, meaning the agreement allows her to leave a year before the scheduled end of that deal.
For Lidl-Trek, the signing adds another rider capable of operating across several different parts of the calendar. Vas has already won stages of the Tour de France Femmes and Giro d’Italia Women, competed for Olympic medals on both the road and mountain bike and established herself among the leading riders in cyclocross.
“I have very good feelings about it and can’t wait to get to know everyone in the team. I am super excited,” Vas said.
“I’m mostly looking forward to the new environment, the new challenges and everything I can learn. I’m excited to start this new chapter, get to know everyone and see what we can achieve together as a team.”
Vas looking for more leadership opportunities
The move gives Vas an opportunity to explore a greater leadership role after spending much of her WorldTour career within the unusually deep SD Worx-Protime structure.
She has frequently been able to race for her own results, particularly on punchier stages and selective one-day courses, but has also spent significant periods working alongside riders including Lorena Wiebes, Lotte Kopecky and Anna van der Breggen.
At Lidl-Trek, Vas is not expecting to become an automatic leader in every race. The attraction appears to be having more chances to test herself in that position while continuing to develop.
“I hope I can keep improving and become a stronger rider,” she said. “I’d also like to get some experience in a leadership role at some races and see how I can handle that. I think it would be a good opportunity for me to learn and grow.”
Her profile fits a Lidl-Trek women’s squad which has increasingly moved towards having several different cards rather than depending on one leader across an entire block of races.
Vas can sprint from reduced groups, survive difficult climbing better than most fast finishers and attack from distance. That gives Lidl-Trek options in the Ardennes, hilly stage races and harder one-day events without committing her to a single speciality.
Vas reunited with Niamh Fisher-Black
The transfer will reunite Vas with Niamh Fisher-Black, who left SD Worx-Protime for Lidl-Trek at the end of 2024.
“I don’t know too many people on the team yet, but I’ve been teammates with Niamh before and I really enjoyed racing with her,” Vas said.
“I’m really happy that we’ll be wearing the same colours again.”
Fisher-Black’s move to Lidl-Trek was also partly about creating more room for her own ambitions after several seasons inside SD Worx-Protime’s crowded leadership structure.
Vas now follows a similar route, although their strengths are very different. Fisher-Black has developed predominantly as a climber and general classification rider, while Vas gives Lidl-Trek another option for the shorter, sharper races where positioning and finishing speed become as important as pure climbing ability.
Tour de France and Giro stage winner
Vas joined SD Worx midway through the 2021 season and quickly became one of the most unusual riders on the women’s roster because of the range of disciplines she continued to combine.
Her first Giro d’Italia Women stage victory came in 2023, while one of her biggest road wins followed at the 2024 Tour de France Femmes.
Vas won Stage 5 of the 2024 Tour de France Femmes in Amnéville, beating Kasia Niewiadoma and Liane Lippert from the reduced front group on the same afternoon that teammate Demi Vollering lost the yellow jersey following a late crash.
She had arrived at that Tour only days after finishing fourth in the Paris Olympic road race, where she was part of the decisive front group before Kristen Faulkner attacked clear to win gold.
Vas has also been a regular Hungarian champion and has collected major results in cyclocross and mountain biking, including another fourth place at the Tokyo Olympic mountain bike race.
It is that ability to move between disciplines that Lidl-Trek intend to preserve.
Cyclocross switch will happen almost immediately
Vas will not have to wait until January to race for her new team.
Her Lidl-Trek contract begins in October, allowing her to compete in the team’s colours during the upcoming cyclocross season. The timing makes the move particularly striking after SD Worx-Protime had recently increased its own investment in Vas’s winter programme.
Former world champion Sanne Cant joined SD Worx-Protime as a cyclocross coach in 2025, with Vas and Marie Schreiber among the riders at the centre of that project.
Lidl-Trek team manager Frank Schleck made clear that cyclocross remains part of the plan rather than something the team expects Vas to reduce.
“We’re especially excited that she’ll pull on the Lidl-Trek jersey very soon for the upcoming CX season,” Schleck said.
“Blanka represents exactly the kind of ambitious, multi-discipline rider we want to build our future around.”
Lidl-Trek continue building towards 2027
Vas is the latest addition to a Lidl-Trek roster that is already being reshaped for next season.
The team recently confirmed that Julia Kopecky will also join Lidl-Trek through 2028, with the Czech champion another rider whose value comes from being useful across several different types of racing.
Vas arrives with considerably more WorldTour experience despite still being only 25.
“I’ve followed her closely over the last few years and have always believed in the level she can reach,” Schleck said.
“At Lidl-Trek, our ambition is not only to bring together the best talent, but to create an environment where riders can develop, challenge themselves and reach their full potential. We believe we can give Blanka exactly that.”
For Vas, the first test comes almost immediately. Rather than seeing out another winter with SD Worx-Protime before changing teams in January, she will begin racing in Lidl-Trek colours during the coming cyclocross season.
The road programme and the extent of her new leadership opportunities will follow in 2027.
