Lidl Trek comments on the controversial video of Aleix Espargaró on a bike

A video of Aleix Espargaró training on a bicycle on the roads of Girona has gone viral on social media in recent days and has sparked debate about his way of descending and overtaking vehicles during training. The spread of the images has also provoked a reaction from Lidl-Trek, the team he is still associated with as an ambassador.

A viral video during the descent of Els Àngels

The images, lasting just a few seconds, were initially shared on Instagram by the account @museumotosfolgado and show a cyclist dressed in Lidl-Trek gear descending the Els Àngels pass in Girona. In the video, you can see how the cyclist overtakes several cars during the descent.

 

 

 

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A post shared by Museu Motos Folgado (@museumotosfolgado)

Shortly after being published, users identified the protagonist as Aleix Espargaró, a former MotoGP rider and former member of the Lidl-Trek development team. The sequence generated intense debate on social media, with divided opinions about the maneuver.

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The images show that the overtaking occurs in a section where the signage allows it, the cyclist has visibility, and at least in what the video shows, Espargaró seems to execute the maneuver with control and without directly endangering other road users. Nevertheless, the type of overtaking and the speed on a downhill have fueled online controversy.

After the impact of the images, Lidl-Trek wanted to publicly position itself. In statements collected by El País, team sources stated: “We are aware of the images circulating this week on social media and we want to be very clear: the behavior shown by Aleix Espargaró does not reflect the values or standards that govern us as a team.”

The American structure also explained that they are addressing the matter internally: “We take this matter very seriously and are in the process of speaking directly with the rider.”

The episode has also generated comments regarding Espargaró's profile. The 36-year-old Catalan has spent much of his life competing at the highest level in motorcycling, where he competed in 260 Grand Prix races in MotoGP. That experience in driving and speed control on open roads is, for some users, a factor that may explain the naturalness with which he approaches this type of descent.

After announcing at the end of 2024 his jump to cycling with the Lidl-Trek development team, the experiment lasted only one season. During that year, he participated in the Tour of Austria, where he withdrew after a fall, and in the Getxo Circuit, before closing his brief stint as a professional cyclist.

Despite this, Espargaró maintains his relationship with the American structure and continues to be linked to the project as an ambassador, which is why he continues to train and publish content on social media wearing the team's colors.

So far, Aleix Espargaró has not made any public statements about the video nor has he offered his version of what happened. The controversy, largely fueled by the dissemination of the clip on social media, continues to generate debate among cycling fans and road users about the limits of such maneuvers during training.