Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe issues firm warning to Visma | Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates: "2025 is real start"

Red Bull was announced on a grand scale as a new sponsor at BORA-hansgrohe just before the 2024 Tour de France. Big budget, big plans, and therefore big expectations.... In conversation with Velo, performance manager Dan Lorang stressed that the first six months with Red Bull had not been promising much yet. In 2025, it has to happen; it sounds ambitious.

"Last year, Red Bull was on the jersey, but not much more." Lorang says tellingly. "But over winter, we're becoming Red Bull in structure and resources. Next year will be the "real" start for us with Red Bull; a lot of things are going to change. We will have a lot of changes going into 2025, and a lot more opportunity. We will have more people working for us, new opportunities to enhance performance, and better access to facilities. It could be a game-changer for us. After the winter, we will be even better prepared. We will have the base to say we can fight for the podium at the Tour de France. We will really be ready to win the biggest races."

Clearly, Red Bull is far from reaching its full potential in cycling. There is still a lot of room for growth. "We've finished the season with a grand tour and the top five in the world ranking. That's a strong start that we can only improve on," claims Lorang. With a budget of around 45 million annually, Visma | Lease a Bike and INEOS Grenadiers can be attacked. Only UAE Team Emirates is a bit above them. "We've got more resources to sign new riders, but also to hire some of the best people in their field. Three people are now doing the job I used to do. Now we have more people available for certain specialist tasks, things we couldn't fully work on before."

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Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe

Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe wants to close the gap

There are new top riders on the payroll, a new development team has been added, and an important name has been brought in in the field of material with INEOS man Dan Bigham. "The equipment is becoming increasingly important, although training remains the basis for everything. However, there is a limit to that; there is more room for growth when considering the equipment. We will have access to the Red Bull performance center. Visma | Lease a Bike, and UAE Team Emirates are currently leading in terms of performance, but we are closing that gap."

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