American rider Leah Thomas has left the Trek Segafredo team after a mutual agreement. Despite having a contract until the end of the 2023 season, Thomas has left citing persistent back problems and wants to recover fully without any pressure to race.
“We are sad to report that Leah Thomas will be leaving our team at the end of the year due to ongoing back problems. In February 2022, Leah underwent surgery on her back, and now she has decided to take a break from racing for a while to continue her rehabilitation. Thank you for everything, Leah!”
Trek Segafredo
Thomas rode with Trek Segafredo during 2022, after joining from Movistar the year before. Surgery in February 2022 meant that Thomas was never fully 100% in the 2022 season, although she still won the USA National TT Championship and was 5th in the World Championship TT as well. An elite climbing domestique, she was able to assist leaders like Elisa Longo Borghini without maybe some of the individual success of previous years like the GC at Tour de l’Ardeche in 2021. Before riding for Movistar, Leah Thomas was at Bigla for 2 seasons, UnitedHealthcare and the American Twenty16/Twenty20 team.
“The goal will be to successfully defend my US national time trial title at the end of June. It was an honour to race with arguably the best team in the world, I have many memories of this time that I will cherish. I want to say a big thank you to everyone at Trek-Segafredo for their support. I absolutely love cycling and hope that this decision, although incredibly difficult, will eventually allow me to cycle pain free again.”
Leah Thomas
