Road cycling: Red Bull’s big entry into cycling

First start, first win: Sam Welsford (3rd from right) won for Bora in Tanunda on Monday.

Photo: imago/Sirotti

Red Bull is not yet there with all its financial and organizational power in cycling. The prospect of this is already giving the designated partner, the German team Bora-hansgrohe, wings. Newcomer Sam Welsford won the bunch sprint at the season opener in Australia on Monday. Seventh place for rider Danny van Poppel shows that the collective cooperation was excellent on the opening stage of the Tour Down Under.

»Bora’s sprint move definitely made the difference. They have by far the strongest sprint team here. And if Bora starts the sprint for Sam up to 150 meters from the finish, then there’s nothing you can do,” said runner-up Phil Bauhaus, paying respect to his opponents from the Raubling racing team. Of course there was celebration there. »That was crazy! I am at a loss for words. It was pretty tricky downhill and there were a few crashes and near misses, but the guys kept calm and did a great job. It’s a dream come true – it’s the first race and my first win with the team,” said Australian winner Welsford. Because the competition was fierce with the five-time Tour de France stage winner Caleb Ewan and Gent-Wevelgem winner Biniam Girmay.

Right at the start of the season of planned major growth, Bora was able to put a tick in the “early first win of the season” box. However, the expectations are even greater. With the Slovenian Primož Roglič, a rider has been signed who has what it takes to win the Tour de France. “That is our mission this season,” said team boss Ralph Denk. But he also doesn’t ignore a certain tension: “Everyone knows how Primož performed at Jumbo-Visma. And of course we also know that if he doesn’t do that for us, we’ll be the bogeymen.”

nd.DieWoche – our weekly newsletter

With our weekly newsletter nd.DieWoche look at the most important topics of the week and read them Highlights our Saturday edition on Friday. Get your free subscription here.

The Austrian antitrust authorities will decide on the structurally even more important step for the development of the racing team at the end of January. It must approve that the Austrian company Red Bull can take over 51 percent of the shares of the parent company of the Bora-hansgrohe racing team, which is also registered in Austria. If that works, the racing team will be promoted to the top league in cycling. The budget in particular is likely to grow.

Red Bull itself is already occasionally active in cycling and has high-profile sponsorship contracts with top riders such as Tom Pidcock and Wout van Aert. Former ski mountaineer and mountain runner Anton Palzer, who has been part of the Bora team for three years now, is also one of the cyclists supported by the shower manufacturer. And the rumor mill when it comes to new signings is already churning: Van Aert is being discussed as a potential newcomer, and Remco Evenepoel could also join the team as co-leader and successor to Roglič.

It will be exciting to see how racing team boss Denk acts in the future. He always liked to criticize the gap between the richer teams – such as UAE Emirates and Ineos Grenadiers with an annual budget of around 50 million euros – and the others, who only have half, sometimes not even a third, of this amount at their disposal. He advocated a general budget limit of 30 million euros to improve equal opportunities. Let’s see where the budget limit will be for the racing team if it has the red bulls in its name.

Takeovers by sponsors are not unusual. Ineos Grenadiers, for example, is entirely owned by Jim Ratcliffe, the founder of the chemical company Ineos. His sports empire also includes the football clubs Manchester United and OGC Nice. Together with the Ineos company, Red Bull’s commitment now represents the new trend of European companies as a counterweight to sports financiers from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Industry experts such as former Gerolsteiner team boss Hans-Michael Holczer also hope that Red Bull’s entry will give a boost to the marketing of road cycling in general. Resistance like in the ultra scenes of football is not to be expected. Cycling fans are already used to team names changing depending on the arrival of new sponsors. The Raubling racing team could perhaps take part in the Tour de France with a new name. More victories under the old name should follow by then.

Become a member of the nd.Genossenschaft!

Since January 1, 2022, the »nd« will be published as an independent left-wing newspaper owned by the staff and readers. Be there and support media diversity and visible left-wing positions as a cooperative member. Fill out the membership application now.
More information at www.dasnd.de/genossenschaft