"I wanted to experience something exciting": Bora team boss Ralph Denk in a TOUR interview

About the person

Ralph Denk, born on 1 November 1973 in Bad Aibling, once wanted to become a professional cyclist himself. Shortly after reunification, he rode for RG Opel Schüler in Berlin alongside future Tour de France runner-up Andreas Klöden and Olympic track champion Robert Bartko. After an apprenticeship as a plastics mould maker, the Upper Bavarian worked for the US company SRAM, set up a bike shop in Raubling and started top teams with the best mountain bikers around Roel Paulissen and Bart Brentjens.

At the end of 2009, he announced his intention to take part in the Tour de France in the long term with the newly founded German team NetApp. The goal was achieved in 2014. For the 2017 season, he signed the then world champion Peter Sagan and obtained a licence for a UCI World Team. He is the managing director and owner of Denk Pro Cycling GmbH & Co. KG, which runs the current racing team under the name Bora-Hansgrohe, and lives in Samerberg.

TOUR interview with Ralph Denk

The interview was conducted by Andreas Kublik

TOUR: Mr Denk, there are many trophies hanging in your office in a tower block in Raubling, which your company shares with main sponsor Bora. Which ones have the greatest personal significance for you?

Ralph Denk: The rainbow jersey from 2017 is certainly the ultimate - and the Roubaix cobblestone. Plus the pink jersey from last year's Giro.

TOUR: If you cross your legs, you can see it: you have the initials PS tattooed on your ankle. A lasting reminder that Peter Sagan rode for your team and won the 2017 World Championship title and Paris-Roubaix 2018 during this time. The Slovakian left Bora-Hansgrohe at the end of 2021. Why the tattoo?

Ralph Denk: It was a bet, betting debts are debts of honour.

TOUR: What exactly was the bet?

Ralph Denk: At the breakfast table before the World Cup in Norway in Bergen, Peter said: If I become world champion, my name on your body forever - yes or no? I said yes. But I have no problems with the tattoo now. Besides, you can remove something like that if you want to. But I don't think about that at all, because Peter has done so much for my team.

TOUR: Which other employees are getting a tattoo?

Ralph Denk: We'll have to see about that. But my children's names also have a connection to racing cyclists: Leo was born at a time when Leopold König was strong. Max was born when Maximilian Schachmann won Paris-Nice twice in a row, and Anton was born when Toni Palzer was the talk of the town.

TOUR: You have five children in total. Aren't the names Peter, Emanuel and Jai missing?

Ralph Denk: I still have a few children to make ...(laughs). I have two more girls whose names have no connection to cycling.

TOUR: You could have named the girls after well-known female racers ...

Ralph Denk: There is no women's cycling at Bora-Hansgrohe at the moment, so I'll be honest: I'm not that deeply rooted in women's cycling.

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TOUR: There are many top teams involved in the men's and women's races: Jumbo-Visma, Trek-Segafredo, Quick-Step, DSM, Movistar. Is that also conceivable for you in the future?

Ralph Denk: At the moment, our premise is: We are focussing on the men's project. However, the topic is always on our agenda and we are in dialogue with our main sponsors. I'm really pleased that women's cycling has developed so well. If a big German company came around the corner and said: Ralph Denk, please organise a women's team for me! Then I would do it.

TOUR: On the sidelines of the Tour de France, to which your father often travelled as a helper, he once said that he never worried about your future, that you were determined. But it was brave of you to link your professional future in Germany very closely with cycling. What did you learn at home?

Ralph Denk: I have learnt many good values that I am grateful for. Diligence, determination and honesty are already high values in our family. And why did I focus on cycling? You have to do something counter-cyclical, look for a niche if you don't want to do everyday things. That's why, after my Mickey Mouse career as a racing driver, I stopped looking for a job in my apprenticeship as a plastics mould maker. I wanted to experience something new and exciting.

At Bora-Hansgrohe, we have a mission: to promote cycling in Germany. We want to help ensure that many people get on their bikes!

TOUR: Speaking of anti-cyclical: When you presented your first road team NetApp at the end of 2009, cycling in Germany was in ruins after the doping scandals. Nevertheless, you were already talking about the Tour de France when you founded the Continental team.

Ralph Denk: Back then, we introduced a very ambitious sponsor in NetApp. I was extremely proud that I was able to win over the company - it had taken me from 2007 to 2009 to find a sponsor for professional road cycling. I had a lot of confidence in NetApp because they approached the matter really professionally. And of course I also liked the prospect of what could be possible: I knew NetApp's turnover figures at the time - seven billion euros. That's a multiple of what Hansgrohe has today.

TOUR: Do you measure your business success by victories and trophies like in your office - or do you have other criteria?

Ralph Denk: Our mission is to take lots of people with us on our journey, to promote cycling in Germany. We want to be inspiring, we would be really happy if we could contribute to many people getting on their bikes, that our sport continues to develop, that it perhaps one day reaches the financial spheres of football and Formula 1. But ultimately, there is always a connection between sporting success and the evaluation of the overall project. The journey wouldn't be over if we won the Tour this year or next.

TOUR: Speaking of big goals: After the successful phase with Peter Sagan, you can really only improve if you sign van der Poel, van Aert, Pogacar or Evenepoel or race for the Tour victory. What's missing for that?

Ralph Denk: We're talking about the Big Six in road cycling: Pogacar, van Aert, van der Poel, Evenepoel, Vingegaard and Pidcock. We have already spoken loosely with one or other of them. My impression: It plays a big role where the stars come from and what nationality the team has. A German team is not always so sexy - maybe we can work on that too. The only thing I'm still biting my arse about is Primoz (Roglic). I went to the beer garden with him in Salzburg. But then he didn't sign my offer there, instead he switched from Adria Mobil to LottoNL-Jumbo because they paid a small five-figure sum more.

TOUR: Couldn't you have added the sum back then?

Ralph Denk: No, because I was on the ground financially. It was also about the first professional contract for him and rather small sums - that makes a difference.

TOUR: What is the big goal you want to achieve as team boss?

Ralph Denk: My personal goal is to win the Tour - that is of course super ambitious.

TOUR: What is still missing? The money?

Ralph Denk: The right racing driver! You can't say across the board that you need 50 million to win the Tour. Bora-Hansgrohe's goal is to get this rider at a young age, when he's still affordable. We succeeded with Cian Uijtdebroeks, but we'll have to wait and see if he becomes a great rider. But without our youth team Auto Eder, the best U19 team in the world, he wouldn't be with us.

TOUR: The 20-year-old Belgian won the Tour de l'Avenir in 2022, the Tour de France for young riders. In his home country, he is compared to Evenepoel. So you don't want to buy a potential Tour winner, but develop one yourself?

Ralph Denk: At the moment: yes. Because we also know about the racing drivers who are known to have what it takes: Vingegaard at Jumbo until 2027. Pogacar with UAE until 2026. Remco Evenepoel until 2027 with Soudal Quick-Step. And we'll see this year whether Jai Hindley is better than the three mentioned. I'm very curious about that.

TOUR: Speaking of new appointments: How difficult is it to have a line as a company boss? You parted ways with sports director Jens Heppner in July 2013, when the results of the post-tests of the 1998 Tour de France became known. Now Rolf Aldag, who actually has a similar past, has been your head of sport for over a year.

Ralph Denk: If you look at the personalities of Heppner and Aldag, there aren't really any parallels. I'm super grateful to Jens Heppner for building Team NetApp with me, he really put his heart and soul into it.

TOUR: After the confessions of numerous Telekom pros in 2007, the doping headlines about him did not come as a complete surprise, albeit very late.

Ralph Denk: Sure, you could have guessed a bit because he was one of the protagonists at Team Telekom. We had already discussed this with NetApp when I founded the team. The samples then showed something different from what Jens personally told NetApp. There were clear words from the legal department in America (where NetApp is based; editor's note): either we continue as a sponsor or you continue with Jens Heppner. Jens might have been able to salvage it - but despite the positive samples, he stuck to his statement and denied it. Then there was no more collaboration.

TOUR: Rolf Aldag, on the other hand, had already confessed in 2007 ...

Ralph Denk: There was the ominous press conference. He didn't use salami-slicing tactics, but cleared the air with two sentences. Despite his past, it was therefore an issue for us to work with him. There was no wave when we introduced him. He achieved rehabilitation with his open confession - so you can't compare the two cases.

TOUR: You are not only the managing director of the team's operating company, but also the owner. The sword of Damocles, doping, always hangs over cycling. How great is your fear that the team could become involved? The risk is there: Björn Thurau was banned for nine years for offences between 2011 and 2014 as part of Operation Aderlass 2021 - he rode for your team in 2015. The case of Ralf Matzka could also have caused you major problems. He tested positive in a doping test as a rider for your team in 2016, but was only banned retroactively for two years in 2018.

Ralph Denk: We have a strict stance on this. I would lose my house and farm if we had organised doping at Bora-Hansgrohe or in any of the teams I have managed. Any contract would be worthless overnight and claims for damages would be made against me. Otherwise we can only work preventively: We try to convey to the riders that it makes no sense to cheat or manipulate.

TOUR: But what do you mean it doesn't make sense? Doping brings more success, and not everyone will be caught ...

Ralph Denk: Yes, it brings success, but a lot has also been publicised. We have seen all the big names who have been caught fall tragically. Jan Ullrich: not a nice story; Pantani: an even worse story. We have to show that: If you get caught, you are badly, badly branded for life.

TOUR: What does it mean to you personally to be a team manager?

Ralph Denk: I'm not just the team boss, I own everything, I'm the owner. On the one hand, that's great, of course. But I also have to honour my financial obligations. And if I have to pay a big bonus for winning the Giro, as I did last year, then I have to calculate on 1 August whether there's enough left for the December salaries. You have to be able to deal with that too. Nevertheless, I can sleep peacefully: Firstly, I have great confidence in my employees. Secondly, I didn't have the physical talent as a young cyclist. But cycling has given me mental strength. I don't think anything can knock me off track that quickly.

TOUR: What role did cycling play for you - before it became your profession?

Ralph Denk: When I was 13 years old and ski racing no longer worked properly due to a knee injury, from one day to the next there was nothing else but cycling. When my schoolmates went to the ice cream parlour, cinema or swimming pool in the afternoon, I spent four hours cycling on my own. I looked up the results in "Radsport" (the BDR association magazine; editor's note) and read your magazine from cover to cover. There was nothing else back then.

TOUR: What was the fascination of road cycling for you as a boy?

Ralph Denk: The goal was to become a professional driver. And I threw everything I had into it. It certainly wasn't down to ambition, but - you can say this afterwards - a lack of talent.

TOUR: What role does cycling still play for you today?

Ralph Denk: I try to cycle three to four times a week - but my cycling radius is limited to two hours. At the moment, it only plays a role for me so that I don't get fat and stay reasonably fit. But I also find it fascinating to cycle from A to B in regions that I don't know yet.

TOUR: It is said that you and your business partner Willi Bruckbauer sometimes hold meetings on a racing bike.

Ralph Denk: We don't need a PowerPoint presentation when we're throwing ideas at each other. That works quite well for us on the bike. We then discuss topics such as: What do you think about the jersey design for next year? Or: Should we announce the contract extension for the Giro or the Tour?

TOUR: You have known Bruckbauer, founder and boss of Bora, for a very long time ...

Ralph Denk: We've known each other for 36 years - I have a very special relationship with Willi. We don't speak on the phone every day. And we don't even wish each other a happy birthday because it has no value for either of us. We both used to race bikes, and even rode the six-day race in Copenhagen as partners in a two-man team. I was his first tenant in the Werkhaus with my bike shop. And my father was involved in the Bora prototype as a metalworker.

TOUR: What do you both still have in common today?

Ralph Denk: I would say: the hands-on mentality and out-of-the-box thinking, but also honesty and being able to rely on each other. For example, we once publicly announced a five-year contract extension - but only signed the contract six months later. That says a lot about our relationship.

TOUR: You're turning 50 this year - is retirement on the cards for you?

Ralph Denk: Retirement is not an issue for me. I'm still super motivated for what I do. Even though our spring could have been better, I don't drive into the office every morning and ask myself: What am I actually doing here? I achieved my financial freedom relatively early on with the sale of my bicycle retail business. I don't need a yacht or expensive watches either. Money is not what drives me.