It is a liaison that could significantly change cycling – at least the balance of power between the teams, if not the entire sport in its marketing. Red Bull is about to become the majority owner of the German cycling team Bora-hansgrohe. This emerged from a statement from the Austrian Federal Competition Authority (BWB) on Wednesday (January 3, 2024), which Bora later confirmed.
A surprise for some, but not necessarily for industry experts like Hans-Michael Holczer. He says in the Dlf interview: “If you observed that, you could even notice a certain development over the years between Ralph Denk’s racing team and the Red Bullers from Salzburg.” Red Bull and Bora-hansgrohe have been cooperating in the youth sector for a long time, for example at the beginning of 2023 the “Junior Brother” program offered young athletes the chance to apply for a Bora U19 professional contract.
Red Bull’s entry could revolutionize cycling
But the news would come with a relatively strong impact, explains Holczer: “Because 51 percent of a company is involved in sports means that you have full control.” The former manager of the Gerolsteiner team describes the upcoming Red Bull entry as an unprecedented event in cycling:
It is a milestone in the development of cycling. And worldwide. Red Bull is – and there is no discussion about this – one of the big players in sports marketing and the sports business.
Hans-Michael Holczer on the importance of Red Bull’s entry
Holczer sees the beverage giant’s employees as “absolute marketing specialists, top strategists, perhaps the best or among the best there is.”
What happens to medium-sized and smaller sponsors?
The question now inevitably arises as to what the entry of a giant means for medium-sized to small sponsors in cycling. Holczer knows the economic conditions that apply to professional teams. He led the Gerolsteiner team between 1999 and 2008. The manager announced his retirement at the time after Bernhard Kohl, Gerolstein’s second driver, was convicted of doping.
Holczer remembers the water brand as the main sponsor: “A really great company that is based in the Eifel and used cycling to ultimately change the image of the brand in order to create a bit more awareness. Someone like that can get back into cycling?”
It therefore remains to be seen whether cycling in general will benefit from Red Bull’s entry – or just the directly sponsored team. Because Holczer expects two development trends: “One direction will be: There will be more awareness, more spectators, it will be presented completely differently. That will certainly benefit cycling in general.”
But there is also another side: “Whether it is good for cycling if the really big ones are always there in terms of financial capacity, then it is certainly good for the sport itself and the top riders. But the opportunity to create new teams founding companies that then also play a role in the public eye that is perceived – I think that will be a bit more difficult.”
Holczer is keenly watching the impact of the deal
The first and obvious beneficiary of the deal is of course Ralph Denk’s team, Bora-hansgrohe. Holczer is eagerly awaiting what will happen next: “I think the contracts are concluded for the long term. It doesn’t necessarily have to mean that Red Bull will act as the team’s main sponsor from day one. There may well be a gradual transition Maybe Bora will also take a step back – with Hansgrohe, we’ll see that in the long term.”
Holczer emphasizes again emphatically: “It’s of course about the basic intention of this whole story: You want this one cycling race in France [Tour de France, d. Red.] Bora Hansgrohe manager Denk has already put the levers in motion for this. He recently signed the 2023 Giro d’Italia winner, Primoz Roglic (Slovenia, Jumbo-Visma), for his team.