"I believe we can win a Grand Tour and a Monument" - Red Bull DS makes bold 2027 claim as Remco Evenepoel targets Tour de France glory

Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe Chief of Sports Zak Dempster believes his team can win both a Grand Tour and a Monument in 2027, with Remco Evenepoel's arrival and the continued development of the squad's younger stars giving him confidence that cycling's biggest prizes are within reach.

The German team enjoyed a successful 2026 campaign without managing either of those achievements. Evenepoel finished second to Tadej Pogacar at the Tour de France, winning two stages along the way, while Jai Hindley returned to the Giro d'Italia podium and Florian Lipowitz and Giulio Pellizzari continued to establish themselves among the peloton's leading stage racers.

Speaking in an end-of-season interview published on the team's official website, Dempster made no secret of his ambitions for the coming campaign.

"We've made progress and we should celebrate that, but we should also be honest about wanting more," he said. "We still need to discuss and agree on what we feel are exciting and realistic goals. Personally, I believe we can win a Grand Tour next year. I believe we can win a Monument. And I believe we can become the most successful version of this team in terms of race wins."

Dempster hopes to surpass the team's previous best season for victories before the final race of 2027, leaving room to raise the target further. His ultimate ambition, he added, is "turning podium finishes into victories at the highest level."

Behind the results, Dempster has seen a significant shift in the way riders and staff approach their work together, particularly when things have not gone according to plan.

"People are more open, happier to be challenged and happy to challenge others. I think we're in a position where we can really take things to the next level," he explained, having chosen "hard work, hope and progress" as the three words to describe the season.

The Giro d'Italia was among the team's biggest challenges, with health problems disrupting their plans. Pellizzari endured a difficult race, but Hindley fought his way back onto the podium, four years after claiming the Maglia Rosa in 2022.

There were challenges in the Classics too, with Red Bull having placed particular emphasis on improving their collective performances heading into the spring. Tim van Dijke's second place at Omloop Nieuwsblad provided an early highlight, and the team's approach left Dempster encouraged.

"The team had been clear about how they wanted to race and what they wanted people to say about them. In the end, they went out and did it," he recalled. "Tim's second place got the ball rolling, and seeing the Classics become such a happy place was really cool."

Dempster also singled out Gianni Vermeersch and Gianni Moscon for their influence within the Classics group, praising the intensity they bring to the team and Vermeersch's toughness in the peloton.

Evenepoel provided the biggest individual highlights of Red Bull's spring, finishing third at the Tour of Flanders and winning Amstel Gold Race. The Belgian has already claimed two Monument victories during his career, both at Liege-Bastogne-Liege, but has yet to add another since joining Red Bull.

While Evenepoel's arrival dominated much of the attention surrounding Red Bull in 2026, Dempster identified Pellizzari as the rider who surprised him most.

The young Italian claimed six victories over the course of the campaign, including overall successes at the Tour of the Alps and Vuelta a Burgos, bouncing back from his difficult Giro to establish himself as another of the team's major general classification prospects.

"Giulio. I knew how good he was, but seeing him deliver wins so consistently, whilst also going through that learning experience at the Giro, was really cool," Dempster said. "It's not that I was surprised — I knew he had it in him — but it was great to see him actually do it."

Pellizzari's progress adds another dimension to a team already containing Evenepoel, Hindley and Lipowitz, the latter having finished third at the 2025 Tour de France before continuing his strong performances in week-long stage races this season.

Dempster also highlighted Laurence Pithie's recovery from a difficult previous campaign, with the New Zealander taking six wins of his own, alongside Luke Tuckwell's second place at the Dauphiné in his first WorldTour season. The development of Lorenzo Finn and Alessio Magagnotti further encouraged the Australian.

"There are quite a few examples," he said. "Then there's Lorenzo Finn and the season he put together, and Alessio Magagnotti. We had two riders who weren't even in the WorldTour team beat Magnier, one of the best sprinters in the world."

For Evenepoel, the 2027 Tour de France presents an opportunity to build on his runner-up finish this July. The newly unveiled route features 71 kilometres of individual time trialling across two stages, the most since 2012, although the demanding mountain stages, particularly in the Pyrenees, will again provide a major test in his pursuit of Pogacar.

Red Bull have already enjoyed Grand Tour glory through Hindley's 2022 Giro triumph and Primoz Roglic's 2024 Vuelta a España victory, while Peter Sagan's success at Paris-Roubaix in 2018 remains the team's most recent Monument win.

Exactly how the team's Grand Tour leaders will be deployed next season remains to be decided. Evenepoel's programme is expected to be confirmed in December, with the roles of Lipowitz, Pellizzari and Hindley also to be determined. After two consecutive Tour de France podium finishes with different riders, Red Bull must now decide how best to deploy their growing collection of contenders in pursuit of the overall victory that has eluded them in July.