2024 Season Review | Red Bull - Bora - hansgrohe: Primoz Roglic debut season is rescued in Spain, but what went wrong at the Tour de France?

Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe had a strong debut season in cycling in 2024, accumulating an impressive 24 victories and 16,894.3 UCI points strong saw them leap from 10th in the UCI WorldTeam rankings in 2023 to finish fifth overall at the end of 2024, and they’ve definitely made a statement for their big ambitions going forward.

For a team entering its first season under Red Bull’s guidance, the pressure and expectations were high. Red Bull’s track record in other sports, from Formula 1 to extreme sports, has been nothing short of dominant, setting lofty expectations for their foray into cycling.

The arrival of Primoz Roglic, one of the peloton’s most decorated riders of the last decade, signalled the team’s intent to make an immediate impact. While Roglic’s season took time to hit its stride, his eventual success highlighted the potential for this new era under Red Bull’s sponsorship. The team’s results reflected a transitional season, but there are definitely signs of the early stages of a dominant team in the peloton.

Let’s look back through their season, and find out what more needs to be done to challenge UAE Team Emirates and Team Visma | Lease a Bike going forward.

The team’s season got off to a flying start, thanks to Sam Welsford’s sprinting down under. The Australian sprinter claimed three stage wins at the Tour Down Under, delivering early victories and getting the ball rolling for the team. While Welsford’s early performances were impressive, the team’s main goals for the season were clear became clear: targeting Grand Tour success through riders like Roglič, Jai Hindley, Daniel Felipe Martínez, and Aleksandr Vlasov. The focus on these climbing men gave little room for focus for Welsford and the team’s other fast men.

Welsford’s early season form didn’t continue to the Flemish Classics, where he struggled to find his best form. This highlighted the team’s growing need to improve their classics squad, particularly for the races in Belgium and northern France. Meanwhile, Daniel Felipe Martínez delivered standout performances, starting with a victory in the Colombian national time trial championships, and he carried this momentum into the Volta ao Algarve, where he won stages 2 and 5. Martínez’s results were crucial for the team, as he helped to get points on the board in the early stages of the season, and this was perhaps a preview for his performance at the Giro, but we’ll get to that shortly.

Primoz Roglic began with a slow start at a forgettable Paris – Nice, but he showed promise by winning the stage 1 time trial at the Itzulia Basque Country. However, his Basque Country campaign was cut short by a horrific crash that also took out Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel. Roglic escaped with minor injuries but was forced to miss several key spring races, leaving a gap in the team’s ambitions for early-season victories.

The team’s classics squad, led by Danny van Poppel, delivered respectable results but fell short of major wins. Van Poppel’s third-place finish at the Classic Brugge-De Panne was a highlight, but the team’s climbers failed to make an impact in the key hilly classics. Jai Hindley and Aleksandr Vlasov contributed solid performances in stage races, with Hindley finishing third at Tirreno-Adriatico and Vlasov placing fifth in Paris-Nice. These results earned valuable UCI points, but the lack of major wins in the early part of the season left room for improvement, and the German team will want to address this area in 2025

The Grand Tour season offered Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe an opportunity to shine on the sport’s biggest stages, and the team did not disappoint, for the most part anyway. At the Giro d’Italia, Daniel Felipe Martínez proved his mettle with a stunning second-place finish in the General Classification, and he was a stand out performer throughout. Martínez’s performance, which earned 290 UCI points, and although Tadej Pogacar dominated the race, Martínez managed to outlast Geraint Thomas in the fight for the runner-up spot, delivering an important result for the team.

Primoz Roglic made his much-anticipated return from injury at the Critérium du Dauphiné, where he put on a masterclass, until the final climb. Roglic won stages 6 and 7 and narrowly secured the overall victory after overcoming a crack on the final stage, earning 250 points for the team. His performance suggested he was back to his best and ready to contend for the Tour de France podium for the first time since 2020, if of course he managed to stay on his bike.

Unfortunately, he didn’t manage to do so.

Roglic’s history at the Tour de France has been plagued by bad luck, and 2024 was no exception. Despite showing flashes of strength, he struggled on the second stage’s climb of San Luca and appeared vulnerable on key climbs like the Col du Galibier. His form seemed a step behind key rivals Pogacar, Vingegaard, and Evenepoel, which was a surprise given he’d won the Dauphine just 3 weeks before. Disaster struck in the second week when Roglic suffered a nasty crash on a flat stage, breaking a bone in his back. The injury ended his Tour de France hopes and marked another chapter of heartbreak for the Slovenian at cycling’s biggest race.

However, Roglic redeemed his season at the Vuelta a Espana, where he cemented his status as the “King of Spain.” Roglič claimed victory on stage 4, taking the overall lead early in the race. Despite tactical errors allowing Ben O’Connor to gain a massive five-minute advantage, Roglic methodically chipped away at the deficit. It has to be said, Red Bull Bora hansgrohe cannot afford to gift so much time to GC rivals in the future, and they will hopefully have learned a lesson in Spain.

Roglic won stages 8 and 19 in dominant fashion, reclaiming the red jersey on a mountainous stage and securing his fourth Vuelta title. Roglic’s Vuelta win not only earned the team 400 UCI points but also gave Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe their first Grand Tour victory, marking a significant milestone in their debut season under the Red Bull banner.

Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe’s performance manager, Dan Lorang, has described 2024 as a transitional year, with 2025 set to mark the full debut of Red Bull’s involvement in the team. The transfer market reflects this ambition, with notable additions and departures shaping the roster for the upcoming season. The team confirmed the arrival of Jan Tratnik from Visma, and Tratnik brings valuable experience and versatility, particularly in one-day races and support roles, and this is definitely a strong addition.

Max Schachmann, a key figure in the team for six years, will leave at the end of 2024. His departure marks the end of an era, as he seeks new opportunities outside the team. Similarly, Lennard Kämna, another standout climber, will move to Lidl-Trek, but the team have prepared for his departure with some more excellent cyclings.

In a bid to bolster their classics squad, the team has secured the services of Oier Lazkano. His signing is one of the singings of the winter so far, and he will add strength particularly in northern European one-day races, where the team has struggled to achieve major results.

With these changes, Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe is building a roster designed to compete across all terrains, signalling their intent to be a dominant force in the peloton. The foundations laid in 2024, combined with the ambition and resources of Red Bull, position the team for an even more successful 2025 season. But can they live up to the billing in 2025?

Well, welcome to cycling Red Bull, and they definitely got off to the strong start. If you block out the three weeks in France, and we could have given them an even higher rating. But we can’t do that, and Roglic and his new team’s performance in France was one to forget, and he’ll be desperate to change this trend next year.

Having said that, both Roglic and Martinez were strong in the year’s other grand tours, and this was unodubedtly a strong debut season for Red Bull with Bora – hansgrohe. Is there more to come in 2025? Given Red Bull’s track record in sports, and their win at the Vuelta this year, you’d probably have to say that the German outfit are only just getting started.