Starting next season, Leopold Beirig, Hugo Esch and Victor Wedekind will be riding for the Sauerland team.
All three riders competed in the U19 class this year and will contest their first year in the U23 class in 2026. Esch and Wedekind are successful both on the track and on the road. At the 2025 Junior Track World Championships, for example, they won bronze together in the team pursuit. Beirig, meanwhile, is focusing entirely on the road.
Among other achievements, Esch was crowned German U19 champion in the individual time trial this year. In addition to winning bronze in the team pursuit at the World Championships, he also took bronze in the same discipline at the European Championships and came third in the madison with Attila Höfig. In 2024, he had already won silver at the European Championships with the German U19 quartet. And these are just a few of the successes that the 18-year-old has already celebrated. "For 2026, I first want to integrate well into the team, support it with my skills and continue to develop my road racing,’ says Esch. ‘My big goal is the U23 European Track Championships in Cottbus."
In addition to his World Championship medal on the track, Wedekind attracted attention above all with strong results on the road. In his first U19 year, he won the "Müller – Die lila Logistik Rad-Bundesliga" race in Schönaich, and in 2025 he was the fastest in the Bundesliga in Steinfurt. He also won a stage at the International Cottbus Junior Stage Race (UCI 2.1), finished 13th at the European Time Trial Championships and narrowly missed the podium in fourth place with the relay team. "I hope that I can complement the REMBE® rad-net team as best I can with my strengths, while continuing to improve my skills as a rider," says Wedekind, looking ahead to 2026, for which he has set himself some ambitious goals: "My goals are the U23 European Championships on the track in Cottbus, the junior jersey in the Cycling Bundesliga and good international placings."
Beirig is considered a reliable rider, who impressed in 2025 with his seventh place in the U19 edition of Gent-Wevelgem. "For 2026, I want to support the team as best I can, both nationally and internationally, and achieve good results in the Bundesliga and UCI races. I want to develop further as a person and as a rider and make a successful transition from the juniors to the U23s," says Beirig, who names Eddy Merckx and, above all, Julian Alaphilippe as his role models. "I want to do my best in the KT and professional cycling sectors with Team REMBE® rad-net and ride as many important races as possible as a helper and supporter in order to gain a wide range of impressive experiences and continue to develop."
"I am looking forward to working with the three talented riders from the U19 national team and am convinced that they will be on the right track with us in the U23s. All three are promising young talents and will certainly continue to develop with us," said team manager Jörg Scherf.
