2025 season review | Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe: Lipowitz' reveal; Roglic's success and Evenepoel's arrival

The 2025 road season marked a major turning point for Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe. With Red Bull arriving as co-title sponsor the year before, a redesigned kit, a re-energized image, and one of the most ambitious rosters the team has ever assembled, expectations for the year were towering. If 2024 was the teaser, this was the year of Red Bull’s true entrance into road cycling. What followed was a campaign of contrasting fortunes: middling classics results, uplifting Grand Tour performances, and the emergence of new leaders who reshaped the team’s long-term identity. This review breaks down the season in full, examining how Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe fared across every key part of the calendar, before reflecting on their transfer window and the overall verdict.

Red Bull’s arrival was sold as the beginning of a new era in German cycling, and it certainly felt like one. Manager Ralph Denk had assembled a roster packed with talent and experience. Primoz Roglic, the reigning Vuelta a España champion who joined at the end of 2023, headlined the team’s Grand Tour ambitions. Around him, Denk gathered a formidable GC core, including 2022 Giro winner Jai Hindley, Aleksandr Vlasov, Colombian climber Daniel Martínez, and German prodigy Florian Lipowitz. Added to this spine were new climbers Giulio Pellizzari and Finn Fisher-Black, both expected to grow quickly into major roles.

With a sprint group featuring Danny van Poppel, Jordi Meeus, and Sam Welsford, Red Bull–Bora–hansgrohe entered 2025 aiming to challenge across every terrain.

Their season results were respectable. The team collected 23 victories, just one fewer than in 2024, and many of those came at WorldTour level. Roglic won the overall title at Volta a Catalunya with two stages, Sam Welsford began the year with multiple wins at the Tour Down Under, and Jordi Meeus triumphed at the new Copenhagen WorldTour Sprint

The team finished sixth overall in the UCI WorldTour rankings, still firmly in the elite bracket, but a slight dip from fifth place in the previous year. The team’s highest points earners were Lipowitz, who burst into the global top fifteen, and Roglic, who remained a consistent scorer even as injury affected parts of his season. These results painted a picture of a strong year, albeit one that did not quite match the scale of their ambitions.

The spring classics campaign was the most disappointing part of their season. Despite heavily reinforcing their one-day squad, Red Bull struggled to leave a mark on both the cobbles and the Ardennes. Milano-Sanremo set the tone early, with the team unable to influence the race when it mattered. Their best finisher was deep into the minor places, and a long way off of the front 3.

On the cobbles, the team showed faint glimpses of potential, but little more. At the Tour of Flanders, Pithie delivered an admirable ride to finish just outside the top ten. His eleventh place, in his debut at the Ronde, was a rare bright spot in an otherwise subdued classics effort. At Paris–Roubaix, Mick van Dijke’s eighteenth place was the best the team could manage, and the gap to the front of the race was glaring. Other major cobbled events, including E3 Harelbeke and Gent–Wevelgem, passed without Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe featuring in the decisive groups.

Much of this was compounded by bad luck. Maxim Van Gils endured an extremely difficult spring. A winter illness carried into March, allergies disrupted his training, and a crash at Amstel Gold forced him out of the Ardennes entirely. Bora had invested heavily in Van Gils as a future classics leader, but through no fault of his own, he was unable to contribute when it mattered. With other recruits like Lazkano and Moscon also struggling for form, the team went through the entire spring without a single podium in the marquee one-day races.

The Ardennes provided a slight improvement, although not enough to salvage the spring. Daniel Martínez rode strongly at Liège–Bastogne–Liège, finishing seventh in what would be Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe’s only Monument top ten of the season. He attacked bravely on the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons and fought hard in the finale, but never seriously threatened the podium.

La Flèche Wallonne and Amstel Gold brought no major results, and the team’s one-day campaign finished without a signature success. Given the investment made into their classics squad, the spring was unquestionably below expectations, and the team acknowledged that much of what they had planned simply did not materialize.

The Grand Tours, however, told a different story. This was where Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe excelled.

The Giro began with Roglic as a strong favourite for pink, but Italy proved unkind once again. Multiple crashes gradually eroded his form, and on a treacherous, rain-swept Stage 16, Roglic abandoned the race while sitting just outside the top ten, battered and bruised. It was a gutting moment for the team.

Yet, remarkably, what followed was one of the season’s most uplifting developments. Giulio Pellizzari, the twenty-one-year-old neo-pro making his first Grand Tour appearance, stepped into the leadership void and excelled. Pellizzari climbed with composure and bravery across the final week’s mountain stages, finishing sixth overall in Rome.

Nico Denz salvaged a stage win on Stage 18 with a brilliantly timed late attack, giving Bora something tangible to celebrate. While Roglic’s exit hurt, Pellizzari’s emergence made the Giro one of the team’s most significant long-term successes.

The Tour de France produced the highlight of the entire Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe season. Roglic returned from his Giro crash but could not match the pace of Pogacar and Vingegaard in the mountains. Instead, Florian Lipowitz became the revelation.

In his Tour debut, Lipowitz climbed consistently with the best, showing intelligence and maturity beyond his years. By the final week he was locked in a fierce battle with Oscar Onley for the final podium spot, as Remco Evenepoel abandoned the week before. Lipowitz refused to crack.

In Paris, he stood on the podium in third place, behind only the two generational giants of modern cycling. It was the first Tour podium for a German rider since 2006. Lipowitz also claimed the white jersey as the best young rider. Meanwhile, Roglic battled on and finished eighth overall, giving the team two riders in the top ten. The Slovenian even had time to assault breakaways in the third week. For a squad that had spent years chasing a Tour breakthrough, this result marked a defining moment, just perhaps not from the rider they expected it to come from.

The Vuelta a España completed the Grand Tour story with another strong showing. Jai Hindley led the team after crashing at the Giro and supporting Lipowitz at the Tour. The Australian rode a consistent race, staying in podium contention until the final days, ultimately finishing fourth overall, just shy of Tom Pidcock in 3rd.

Pellizzari confirmed his status as one of the sport’s brightest young climbers by winning a mountain stage and finishing sixth on GC, mirroring his Giro result. For a twenty-one-year-old to finish top six in two Grand Tours is extraordinary. Between Hindley’s near-podium and Pellizzari’s continued rise, the Vuelta capped a Grand Tour campaign that re-established Bora as one of the strongest GC teams in the world, even without Roglic at his best.

Now for the section you’ve all been waiting for.

As the off-season approached, Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe shook the cycling world with a transfer that instantly altered their long-term trajectory: the signing of Remco Evenepoel. The Belgian arrives as a three world time trial champion, a Grand Tour winner, double Olympic champion, and one of the most naturally gifted riders in modern cycling.

His move from Soudal – Quick-Step was accompanied by trusted lieutenant Mattia Cattaneo, classics all-rounder Gianni Vermeersch, lead-out man Jarrad Drizners, and several key members of Evenepoel’s personal performance staff.

Departures included Roger Adrià, and Oier Lazkano notably, whose contract was terminated following a biological passport violation. The core GC unit, Roglic, Hindley, Vlasov, Lipowitz and Pellizzari remains intact and is now joined by one of the most electrifying riders in the world. But can Evenepoel establish himself as the best of the bunch, or will there be internal fireworks in 2026?

The question is no longer whether Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe can contend in Grand Tours. It is how they will distribute leadership between Roglic, Evenepoel, Hindley, Lipowitz, and Pellizzari, an enviable problem for any team.

The final verdict on Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe’s 2025 season lands at a 7 out of 10. The team achieved several major successes: a Tour de France podium, two riders in the Tour top ten, a breakout Grand Tour season for Pellizzari, a stage win in both the Giro and the Vuelta, and twenty-three victories overall.

Yet the absence of a Monument win or a true classics breakthrough, combined with Roglic’s Giro heartbreak and the sense that the team underperformed relative to its immense budget, keeps the score to a 7. If 2025 was the year Red Bull’s influence began reshaping the project, 2026 will be the year the expectations truly rise. The least surprising transfer in the 21st century has finally happened, but will Evenepoel and Red Bull – BORA – Hansgrohe find the magic to challenge Pogacar and UAE?

I’m left feeling like it was good without ever becoming great for BORA. The Tour podium was massive, and seeing Lipowitz and Pellizzari explode onto the scene was superb to watch. But with the money, the roster, and the Red Bull hype, I expected more punch in the classics and a cleaner Giro run for Roglic. Still, the foundations are clearly there. And with Evenepoel arriving, this team suddenly looks frightening. I can’t wait to see what the Belgian can do, but do believe he will face stiff competition internally.

Truly a season of two halves. From May onwards, very high rating. Until April, very very modest. This was, let's be honest, a good season for the team, so it is fair to point out first and foremost what did not go well. The team, with a new budget, signed nothing but leaders and incredible talents for the 2025 season, many of them to perform in the classics. Jan Tratnik, Maxim van Gils, Laurence Pithie, Finn Fisher-Black, Oier Lazkano, Mick and Tim van Dijke. On top form, these men would've been able to deliver Top10's in every spring monument and much more, but they were all somewhat absent.

Aside from a few smaller results, Lazkano - who we all know how it ended - had nothing in legs, van Gils was ill, Fisher-Black timed his form peaks wrong; whilst neither Tratnik or the van Dijke's delivered on the potential that they brought in from Visma whilst having more freedom added to the leadership. It's not exactly great. Take point 2 which is Dani Martínez, runner-up to Tadej Pogacar at the 2024 Giro, he was 7th at Liège as pointed out but that was the one day in 2025 where he looked to be part of the action, which makes very little sense. Take Sam Welsford, king of the Down Under sprints and everything Australian, but barely a sprinter throughout the rest of the year. His last Top10 finish in a stage was in May, which also makes no sense for a sprinter capable of winning half the stages in a World Tour race in the same year.  

Onwards to the good points. Primoz Roglic has still got it, he won Catalunya and although I didn't believe in a Giro win, a podium was fully possible. He had bad luck on his side and didn't finish the race, but Giulio Pellizzari filled in perfectly, showing himself to the World and proving himself not only as a current Grand Tour specialist, but a potential winner who has a long-term deal already.

Roglic showed his very best level at the Tour and found his ideal setup for the current part of his career, finding out ways to remove pressure from himself successfully, and riding a Tour without major crashes, where he was finishing Top5 - until he decided to go on suicidal attacks in the final week, but attacks we could all appreciate, and it matters little if he finished 5th or 8th. In Peyragudes, he finished third to Pogacar and Vingegaard, he still has it and I think he will continue winning in 2026.

Florian Lipowitz, he promised in 2024, and delivered in 2025. The team couldn't hope for better could they? He is certainly a Top5 stage-racer already, and finishing third at both Dauphiné and Tour de France behind Pogacar and Vingegaard is a sign of a true leader, completely rider, brilliant climber... Plus he is German, young and a product of the team's scouting. He is exactly the kind of leader the team needs and Red Bull have struck gold in him, with another long-term contract already signed.

Move onto the Vuelta and we've also got the best Jai Hindley back, despite the injuries that took him out of the Giro. Finishing fourth and having Pellizzari back him up with 6th and a stage win, with work from both to help the other, it simply has worked and is a good sign for what's to come.

The team has SERIOUS bank, buying out Evenepoel's contract and putting him on the 2nd highest payed salary in the peloton, which shows just how much Red Bull is putting into the team. Do the team NEED him? No. But now they have him, adding more potential to win Grand Tours, monuments, world titles and everything else. I truly believe Evenepoel can actually evolve with BORA, and now having an incredibly strong team of climbers backing him up can change things meaningfully. Not only climbers, but the German team has a strong block of experienced domestiques for all terrains and they can really make the Evenepoel risk worth it.