2024-01-03 19:34:50
Updated Wednesday, January 3, 2024 – 19:07
The energy drink company, which already sponsored Van Aert or Pidcock, fully enters the world of cycling with the acquisition of 51% of the structure of the team that has signed Roglic
Bora cyclist Anton Palzer.WORLD
The Red Bull sports empire had already given clues about its desires for the world of cycling. The millionaire helmet Wout Van Aert It was a good example, among other small business adventures. But the definitive leap has arrived with the start of 2024 and threatens to shake the status quo of a sport so in need of economic incentives. The energy drinks company has entered fully with the acquisition of 51% of the BORA-hansgrohe team structure. An operation confirmed by the Austrian competition authority and that points to large sponsorship, similar to that already undertaken with Formula 1, football and other individual athletes, also Spanish such as Carlos Sainz, Marc Mrquez or Queralt Castellet.
The details and intentions of Red Bull after acquiring the majority of the shareholding (which belonged to RD pro Cycling GmbH) of the structure founded in 2009 by the former German cyclist are still unknown. Ralph Denk (current general manager) with the name NetApp. Whether the deal could change the direction of the team or whether the merger would include a new injection of cash. But, knowing the precedents in other sports -mainly Formula 1 and football with Leipzig and Salzburg-, everything indicates that Bora, already one of the most interesting squads, could go one step higher with Red Bull and place itself at the level of the most powerful by budget, in this order, Ineos Grenadiers (about 43 million euros), the UAE Team Emirates of Tadej Pogacar y Juan Ayuso and the new Visma-Lease a Bike (heir to the Jumbo Visma from Jonas Vingegaard).
Anton Palzer
In reality, Red Bull was already working with Denk’s Bora-hansgrohe team, backing its development team and supporting Anton Palzer, who made an unusual transition from the world elite of mountain skiing to professional road cycling in 2021 in record time. He also individually sponsored Van Aert and his Lazer helmet, including the British Tom Pidcock (only in cyclocross and mountain bike) and the SD Worx cyclist. Blanka Vas.
Although a priori it has nothing to do with the arrival of Red Bull, Bora had been the protagonist of the intense winter market in the world of cycling. The signing with a multi-year contract of Primoz Roglic Since the Jumbo he had raised his ambitions for the grand tours, especially for the Tour. The Slovenian joins other stars like Aleksandr Vlasov, Dani Martnez, Jai Hindley, Sam Welsford, Lennard Kmna o Bob Jungels. He also has a Spaniard in his ranks, the young Catalan Roger Adri. A few weeks ago, with some controversy, the German team lost one of its jewels, the Belgian Cian Uijtdebroekswho headed to Visma-Lease a Bike despite having one more year on his contract.
The current budget of the German team is around 20 million euros, far from the top squads. Bora, whose sports director is the former German cyclist Rolf Everyday, did not have a particularly buoyant 2023. He achieved 23 victories, but no podium in the majors (Hindley, who wore yellow during one stage, was seventh in the Tour, and Vlasov seventh in the Vuelta). In 2022, Hindley himself achieved the most important victory for the German team in recent times, the overall victory in the Giro d’Italia.
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