Ganna and Ciccone leave their teams early as the 2027 transfer market moves fast

Filippo Ganna will ride for Lidl-Trek from 2027 after leaving Netcompany Ineos a year before his contract was due to end, the German team announced on 13 October.

The 30-year-old Italian has signed a three-year deal that runs to the end of 2029, Cyclingnews and ProCyclingUK reported. He had been under contract with the British team until the end of 2027, so the early exit needed the agreement of rider and both teams, Cyclingnews noted. No fee or terms of the release have been made public.

Four days earlier, Lidl-Trek had confirmed that Giulio Ciccone was leaving two years before his contract expired, which, Cyclingnews noted, freed a place on the roster.

Ganna’s next chapter

Ganna joined the Ineos team from UAE Team Emirates in 2019. In its colours he won two elite time-trial world titles, all ten of his Grand Tour stages and Dwars door Vlaanderen, and set the UCI Hour Record. On the track he is an Olympic team pursuit champion.

The Classics will be his first target. “I have big goals I hope to achieve with Lidl-Trek, particularly in the Classics,” Ganna said in the team’s announcement, quoted by Cyclingnews. “Of course, the Grand Tours remain an important objective, and I look forward to supporting the team whilst taking my own chances.”

He will join Mads Pedersen, and two Italian teammates from the national track squad, Jonathan Milan and Simone Consonni. According to Cyclingnews, Ganna is Lidl-Trek’s eighth new rider for 2027, after Felix Gall, Gregor Mühlberger, Jordi Meeus, Georg Zimmermann, Jordan Jegat, Igor Arrieta and Héctor Álvarez.

Ciccone joins Pidcock

Ciccone’s departure was announced in a two-line Lidl-Trek statement on 9 October, the eve of Il Lombardia. “After eight seasons together, the Team and Giulio have reached the mutual decision to part ways,” it read. The team gave no reason.

He then finished third in Lombardy, and on 12 October Pinarello Q36.5 confirmed he had signed a three-year agreement running from 1 January 2027 to the end of 2029. The Swiss-registered ProTeam already has Tom Pidcock as its leader.

The 31-year-old is a three-time Giro d’Italia stage winner and a former King of the Mountains at the Tour de France, and won the Clásica San Sebastián in 2025. He was second at the European Championships on 4 October, beaten by Remco Evenepoel in a photo finish. Cyclingnews counted him as Pinarello’s 11th new signing for 2027.

“I’m also really looking forward to racing alongside Tom Pidcock,” Ciccone said in the team’s statement. “I’ve always admired him, not only because of his talent, but because he’s a rider who thinks differently and isn’t afraid to do things his own way.”

Sheffield crosses to Uno-X

On 7 October, Uno-X Mobility announced that Magnus Sheffield would join from Netcompany Ineos on a four-year contract to 2030. The 24-year-old American holds Norwegian and US passports, and his mother is from Gjøvik. The Norwegian team had never before signed a rider from outside Norway and Denmark, Cyclingnews reported.

“I spoke with Uno-X when I was a junior, and I’ve always felt that it was never really a question of if I would ride for the team, but when,” Sheffield said in the team’s statement, quoted by Domestique.

Since joining Ineos in 2022, Sheffield has won De Brabantse Pijl, a stage of the Ruta del Sol, the Danmark Rundt and a stage of Paris–Nice.

His exit leaves Ineos without its American riders for 2027: AJ August is joining Pinarello-Q36.5 and Artem Shmidt is moving to NSN, both outlets reported. On 9 October the British team announced two climbers, Markel Beloki and Harold Tejada, as new arrivals, while sprinter Sam Welsford is leaving for Jayco-AlUla, Cyclingnews reported.

A market without a window

Early releases like Ganna’s and Ciccone’s are settled privately between teams, without published fees. That may change. In its September reform report, the UCI listed contributors’ calls for fixed transfer windows, transfer fees and training compensation, and said work on the transfer system and on riders’ agents “is already under way”.