Getting to know the new team members and defining a route for the near future - these were the main tasks of the first meeting. "What is the mission and the vision - the guideline for next year: that has to get into people's heads," says Ralph Denk, Team Principal at Bora-Hansgrohe. The motto: his racing team, number four in the world rankings at the end of the season (as of 11 October 2022), should maintain a high level: "Climbing up is still relatively easy, staying at the top will be much harder," emphasises the team manager. Denk has to get around 120 men and women on this course.
Click through: The World Tour victories of Bora-Hansgrohe 2022
Bora-Hansgrohe: Planning and celebrating
While the management and sporting directors are already finalising their assignments and race calendar for the coming year in mid-October, it is largely the end of the season for the riders, including the end-of-season party, which coincided with Patrick Konrad's birthday party in Ötztal. "We have a sacrifice," emphasised team colleague Nils Politt with a wink before the Austrian's 31st, without revealing exactly what that means. "For the racers, it's a mixture of doing something for the sponsor (the Ötztal is the team's sponsor; editor's note), relaxing, skiing, hiking, mountain biking and seeing them off for the break with a raw concept," explained Denk. For example, the riders who are due to start for Bora-Hansgrohe at the Tour Down Under in Australia (17-22 January 2023) need to be told this now.
The year 2022 - highlights and hiccups
The biggest success of the past season, the overall victory by Jai Hindley at the Giro d'Italiacame as a surprise to everyone and actually too early. It had been planned as a long-term project for the new sports director Rolf Aldag to finish at the front of a three-week national tour - but it worked out with the Australian on his first attempt.
Overall, 2022 was a year of highlights for the only World Tour team from Germany, but despite a total of 30 wins this season, it was also mixed: another positive surprise was the Austrian Marco Haller's victory at the Cyclassics in Hamburg, where the team demonstrated the textbook offensive driving style demanded by Denk.
Bora-Hansgrohe celebrates many successes
Nils Politt won the German championship title, but was not in top form in the spring classics due to illness. Sam Bennett, who was re-signed by Bora-Hansgrohe after a stint with Quick-Step, was able to win three races (including two stages at the Vuelta a Espana) in the new jersey has yet to show the potential that the Irish sprinter has shown with two stage wins and winning the green jersey at the Tour de France in 2020 with the previous employer.
Lennard Kämna rode a strong Giro with a stage win, put in a sensational performance at the Tour, but then had to abandon with an illness and was subsequently exhausted and hampered by a groin injury - he did not finish a race from July onwards. Maximilian Schachmann has been missing since his Tour start due to fatigue syndrome and is due to return to training in November. Emanuel Buchmann didn't really get back on track either after his seventh place at the Giro.
The professionals have fun
While the team management and sports management of Bora-Hansgrohe discussed how to proceed in the coming season and what can be done better, it was a chance for the riders to get to know their new team-mates. The pros skied in the Sölden glacier area in mid-October shortly before the start of the Ski World Cup in the same place - like beginner Hindley or Politt, who tried skiing again on two boards years after skiing holidays as a child. "It was rather shaky," said the Rhinelander. Kämna and Marco Haller and other team-mates plunged down into the valley with mountain bikes on trails that were still snow-free.
Three new members of the Bora-Hansgrohe team
The three newcomers from Bora-Hansgrohe were given a bike fitting: Tour stage winner Bob Jungels from Luxembourg (from AG2R-Citroën) and the two Germans Nico Denz (from DSM) and Florian Lipowitz (from Team Tirol). Denz comes with the recommendation of his Stage win at the Tour de Suisse. The 28-year-old from the Hochrhein hopes to benefit from a finding of the measurement: For the first time in his career, he will be riding with a spacer disc under a pedal plate because he has a shorter leg.
No adjustments were necessary for the rest of the Bora-Hansgrohe team: the majority of the pros will continue to ride the same bikes as before in the coming season - according to TOUR information there will be a change of material in the middle of next year. Integration has begun for the newcomers. "They have a lot of expertise here. But everything is very informal. I have the feeling that they want to get the best out of me here," says newcomer Denz and emphasises: "After four days, it felt like I'd been here for three years."
Overall classification project continues
The team, which has only changed slightly, will continue to focus on the major goal of finishing at the top of the overall standings in Grand Tours such as the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta - centred around the classification riders newly signed for the 2022 season, the Russian Aleksandr Vlasov (fifth overall in the Tour despite crash injuries), Sergio Higuita from Colombia and Hindley as leader.
The Austrians Felix Großschartner (to UAE Team Emirates) and Lukas Pöstlberger (BikeExchange) as well as Wilco Keldermann (Netherlands / to Jumbo-Visma) and Martin Laas (Estonia/destination unknown) have left the team. According to Denk, the team squad for the coming season is expected to be complete and will comprise 29 instead of the previous 31 riders.
Denk: Concentration on road cycling
Cycling also faces major challenges. "The gap between rich and poor is also widening massively in cycling," warns Denk: "Only five teams have won one- to three-week World Tours - that's a trend. These are also the richest teams." The teams Ineos Grenadiers, UAE Team Emirates, Jumbo-Visma and Soudal-Quick-Step have different financial possibilities than he and his sponsor partners Bora and Hansgrohe, who he describes as "medium-sized".
Denk did not send any of his Bora-Hansgrohe riders to the start line at the Gravel World Championships, which were held for the first time at the end of the season and featured road pros such as Mathieu van der Poel and Peter Sagan. He also intends to concentrate on road cycling in the future.
He is not currently thinking about his riders racing on gravel, mountain bikes or cyclocross. Tom Pidcock, Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel have recently practised this successfully with other racing teams. A women's team is also currently not feasible due to the limited budget. After the meeting, the professional cyclists left for their holidays. The team's preparations will continue with the training camp on Mallorca from 7 December.
Andreas Kublik
Editor
