When Australian Jack Ward launched into the opening stage of the Tour of Vivid in December 2024 and duly clung to WorldTour rider Luke Plapp’s wheel on the climb of Tawonga Hole earlier than sprinting to the stage 1 win, a path started to unfold that has now led to the 20-year-old mountain biker signing with improvement workforce, Lidl-Trek Future, by to the top of 2027.
It was that efficiency in Victoria’s excessive nation – with the rider finally taking second total on the three-stage occasion behind Jayco-AlUla rider Plapp – that helped the younger home rider from the discontinuing Workforce Bridgelane males’s workforce to safe a 2025 spot because the supported workforce chief within the new Workforce Brennan p/b TP32 on the six-event ProVelo Tremendous League (PSL). Ward then made probably the most of that chance, claiming the win on the inaugural version of the sequence.
That ProVelo victory not solely delivered the assure of a 2025 stagiaire function with Jayco-AlUla – a a lot sought-after winner’s prize – however his performances by the occasions as soon as once more highlighted his mixed climbing prowess and dash energy, elevating the curiosity ranges of quite a lot of worldwide groups, together with Lidl-Trek Future. A lot so, Ward didn’t even want the subsequent step of that stagiaire function to start carving out his pathway to a global racing profession.
“Due to my household and all these in my nook for getting me up to now,” stated Ward on social media, pointing to Workforce Brennan, his agent Annette Edmondson of Paradigm Shift Sports activities and his coach Alex Quirk.
“I’d wish to take this second to additionally thank each ProVelo and Workforce Jayco-AlUla for the chance to tackle a stagiaire place this yr, which was the prize for successful the ProVelo Tremendous League,” stated Ward. “It was an awesome alternative, however finally, I really feel that becoming a member of Lidl-Trek Future Racing on a 2.5-year contract is one of the best step for me on my journey. See you on the highway!”
The Gerry Ryan-backed ProVelo Tremendous League, designed as a pathway to the WorldTour for Australian riders, welcomed the announcement of Ward’s bounce to a global workforce.
“Supporting rising expertise and creating a real pathway to the world stage has at all times been on the coronary heart of PSL’s imaginative and prescient. Jack’s success is a strong reflection of that promise in motion,” stated the league on Instagram.
“It is a monumental achievement and a proud second for Jack and everybody at PSL. We look ahead to following Jack’s journey.”
The Victorian debuted the Lidl-Trek Future racing jersey on the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Collection held in Val di Sole, Italy, coming tenth in his first race with the workforce – the lads’s U23 short-track on Friday.
