Cycling - With Red Bull to the top of the world? Coup for German cycling team
First superstar Primoz Roglic, now top sponsor Red Bull: the German racing team Bora-hansgrohe is on the verge of its next coup and could rise to the absolute top of world cycling with the financially strong sponsor.
The Salzburg-based conglomerate wants to take over 51 percent of team boss Ralph Denk 's WorldTour team. A corresponding merger notification was received by the Austrian Federal Competition Authority (BWB) at the end of December, as announced on its homepage on Tuesday.
The Bora team confirmed the intended partnership in a press release. As a partner of Denk's operating company, Red Bull will "complement the portfolio of existing long-term main sponsors, who will continue to be involved in the team in the long term", it said. The team did not wish to comment further on the deal, as the application deadline for the acquisition of a majority stake in the Bora racing team does not end until January 26th with the Federal Competition Authority.
Red Bull entry to close the gap to top teams
It would be the next coup for the German team, having just signed Giro d'Italia winner Primoz Roglic from Slovenia for the new season. The arrival of the financially strong sponsor could also close the gap between Denk and the top teams such as Visma-Lease a Bike, UAE or Ineos, which have dominated cycling in recent years.
There is definitely a two-tier society, Denk told the German Press Agency last year. "If you look at the races, there are some teams and superstars who are very dominant. It's the famous needle in the haystack, if you have them in your own ranks, that's obviously cool." With Roglic, Bora-hansgrohe wants to intervene in the duel between defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark) and two-time champion Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia) at this year's Tour de France.
Red Bull already supports individual cyclists
In the future, the Bora-hansgrohe team may then be on a par with the industry leaders, who previously had a budget of around 50 million euros per year, estimated to be double that of the German team. It would be the next step in a journey that began in the lowlands of cycling in 2010. Bit by bit, the Denk team worked its way up, making its Tour debut in 2014 and the next boost came in 2017 with the signing of three-time world champion Peter Sagan (Slovakia). The highlight so far was the Giro win by Australian Jai Hindley in 2022.
Red Bull, which is particularly successful in Formula 1, soccer and extreme sports, had not previously been a team sponsor in cycling. However, there have been links with Bora-hansgrohe in scouting and performance for some time. Among others, the Austrian company also supported Bora pro Anton Palzer, who was once a successful ski mountaineer and dared to switch sides. Belgian star Wout van Aert and British Olympic mountain bike champion Tom Pidcock also advertise with Red Bull on their helmets.
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Source: www.stern.de
