Welcome to the page of BORA-hansgrohe, the prestigious German cycling squad. For a significant period, this team was synonymous with the superstar Peter Sagan, who departed in 2021 to pursue new challenges. Over the years, BORA-hansgrohe has not only been home to Sagan but has also celebrated victories with talents like Emanuel Buchmann and Maximilian Schachmann. Looking ahead, the team has made an exciting addition by bringing on board Primoz Roglic for 2024. IDLProCycling.com keeps up with all the news about the team.
BORA-hansgrohe originally emerged from the continental Team NetApp. In the years that followed, the team became procontinental and briefly bore the name Bora - Argon 18. In 2017, the team made the leap to the WorldTour, with high ambitions. Peter Sagan quickly became the face of the team, which also heavily invested in nurturing (predominantly German) talent, bringing on board Pascal Ackermann, Sam Bennett, and Rafal Majka in 2017. As of 2022, Emanuel Buchmann is the sole survivor from that group.
With time, BORA-hansgrohe expanded its horizon, increasingly focusing on international talent, maintaining a remarkably steady performance trajectory. The only exception was the challenging year of 2020, when the team's victories dipped below thirty. The signing of Schelling in 2020 marked the introduction of the team's first Dutch cyclist, with Kelderman joining him in 2021, and Van Poppel adding to the Dutch presence in 2022. BORA-hansgrohe prides itself on being competitive across the board – whether in classic one-day races, grand tours, or sprint finishes, boasting what is arguably their strongest team lineup in 2022.
The gradual shift from a classics team to a stage race team paid off in 2022. BORA-hansgrohe made a breakthrough with Jai Hindley's overall victory in the Giro d'Italia, where the team's strength was particularly noticeable over three weeks. In the Tour de France, Aleksandr Vlasov finished a commendable fifth despite physical discomfort, and in the Vuelta a España, the team won stages with sprinter Sam Bennett. The team's focus on general classification success in 2023 was further emphasized with the addition of powerhouse Bob Jungels, stepping in for Wilco Kelderman who shifted to Jumbo-Visma.
2023 was not a very successful season for the German squad, which could not follow up on the Giro victory of 2022. This time, Hindley made his debut in the Tour de France, starting strongly with an early stage win and the yellow jersey, but ultimately had to settle for fifth place. Other top riders like Bennett, Vlasov, and Schachmann were absent for various reasons, while Cian Uijtdebroeks impressively finished eighth in his first grand tour: the Vuelta.
In that Spanish race, he already seemed not too happy with the team, which eventually led to a split in December: Uijtdebroeks moved to Jumbo-Visma, notably the team from which BORA-hansgrohe had taken their new star two months earlier. Primoz Roglic was plucked from the Dutch team as the leader who is expected to help BORA-hansgrohe win the Tour.