Gaia Realini joins Picnic PostNL on one-year deal for 2027 after Lidl-Trek exit

Gaia Realini will join Picnic PostNL for the 2027 season after four years with Lidl-Trek, giving the Dutch Women’s WorldTour team a proven Grand Tour climber looking to recover the form that made her one of the peloton’s most promising stage-race riders.

The 25-year-old Italian confirmed the move on Thursday, 12 November, in an Instagram announcement shared with her new team.

“I’m happy to announce that I will join @teampicnicpostnl for next season, a team that has believed in me from the very beginning and our first conversations,” Realini wrote.

She thanked Lidl-Trek for the experiences of the past four seasons and described the transfer as a fresh start with new goals.

Realini has signed for one season rather than an extended deal. Speaking to Italian publication Tuttobiciweb, she explained that the contract covers 2027 only, allowing her to work towards a return to form one step at a time.

Photo Credit: Getty

An early Lidl-Trek departure after two difficult seasons

The move follows Realini’s mutually agreed departure from Lidl-Trek, announced in October. She had previously extended her contract until the end of 2027, meaning both parties agreed to end the arrangement a year early.

Realini joined Lidl-Trek from Isolmant-Premac-Vittoria ahead of 2023 and immediately delivered results. That season she won a mountain stage at La Vuelta Femenina, finished third overall at both the Vuelta and Giro d’Italia Donne, and was third at La Flèche Wallonne Féminine.

She finished fifth at the 2024 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, underlining her credentials as a general classification contender.

The trajectory changed after a fractured elbow disrupted the start of 2025. She struggled to return to her previous consistency, and although 2026 brought some encouraging climbing performances, including tenth overall at the Faun Tour Femmes, she could not reproduce the Grand Tour results of her first two Lidl-Trek seasons.

A new climbing option alongside Eleonora Ciabocco

Realini told Tuttobiciweb that a visit to Picnic PostNL’s headquarters in the Netherlands had given her confidence in the team’s approach to rider support. She has also spoken with fellow Italian Eleonora Ciabocco, already under contract with the squad, about the working environment she can expect.

Her arrival gives Picnic PostNL another rider capable of shaping mountainous stage races. Whether she is handed outright general classification leadership or a more flexible climbing role will depend on her winter preparation and the team’s eventual race programmes.

Her positive impressions of the staff arrive amid separate scrutiny of Picnic PostNL’s team culture. The team announced an independent investigation in October following accounts from current and former riders, while saying it did not recognise the overall picture presented. Realini’s comments relate to her own early discussions with the organisation.