"I have a kick that not many others have" - Finn Fisher-Black hopes to regain wings at Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe
Cycling
Ever wondered what do the three biggest cycling teams have in common? The 23-year-old Finn Fisher-Black. Despite his young age, the rider from New Zealand will race for already third superteam in his career. From that, it should be clear the young rider must have a fair amount of talent loaded in his legs. However he himself feels like several victories at .1 and .Pro level are not the ceiling of his abilities. That's why he aims through the roof in the new colours.
"It’s a nice change, I’m excited to be part of such a new project," begins Fisher-Black in an interview for In de Leiderstrui. The Kiwi rider came a long way from when he joined a Dutch club Willebrord Wil Vooruit in 2019 as a 17-year-old talent.
Fisher-Black could not have predicted that he would end up in a team that would attract one superstar after another in the years that followed. "I was still young when I went from Visma to UAE. UAE was a completely different team then, not a super team like last season, I have never seen a team so dominant," he says honestly. "That was crazy and great to be part of. But four years ago I could not have predicted that it would turn out like this."
Although Fisher-Black developed well and also started winning from 2023, his ambitions did not fully materialize. Stage wins in the Tour of Sicily, Tour of Oman and Tour of Asturias and victory in the Muscat Classic, that was it. "I don't regret anything, UAE Team Emirates took me in, even in bad times. They gave me a home to learn and grow and now I have to change places to move on."
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The still young climber refers to a broken thigh bone in the Boucles de la Mayenne in May 2022 with 'bad times'. That did not help his position within a super team, where Fisher-Black never really found his place. Example: he only rode one Grand Tour, the Vuelta a España in 2023. "They were 2.5 great years with UAE, they flew by. But I wanted to leave, to get more out of myself."
"There are a couple of reasons for that," Fisher-Black begins his explanation. "Mainly because I was in a situation at UAE where I was no longer growing. There is so much talent around, which to some extent is great to be a part of. But to find myself again, I had to do something different. Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe showed a lot of confidence in me straight away, so that appealed to me."
He believes that classics such as Ardennes could put him under spotlight: "I have a kick that not many others have. If I keep working on that, it could be a decisive factor in winning more races. There are a lot of races for guys like me, like the Ardennes or certain stages in the Grand Tours. I think we know now that I'm not a GC rider, that's not my style. A Marc Hirschi type? Yeah, exactly. He's definitely someone I have a lot in common with as a rider."
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- That's an excellent point. It's interesting that Vader came to that realization only after he learned that his contract wasn't going to be renewed.
santiagobenites14-11-2026 - Indeed! A reluctant gift maybe. Even more reluctant gift from Roglic! Tho I can’t see that Rog would have beaten Ving anyway.Lozza14-11-2026
- That really nasty crash in 2022 Liege must have played a big part - broken ribs, pneumothorax. You only have to look at his points tallies pre and post.Lozza14-11-2026
- Yeah, good luck getting tv and race organisers like ASO etc to part with their cash!Lozza14-11-2026
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- I see (elsewhere) that Alaphilippe had more to say than what got relayed in this stub. Me: he was very good early but his latter third trajectory was the pits. His old boss did what he could (huffed and puffed) but Julian couldn't get his greatness back. Sometimes I wonder if crashes that didn't look like much changed the course of the rider.flyer14-11-2026
- I wouldn't classify it as a gift because the nasty consequences of taking it from Sepp would have been great and would persist and he knew it.flyer14-11-2026
- Ok. Tratnik's good and Red Bull's better so Tratnik may get what he wants.flyer14-11-2026
- Ok. So just saying he wasn't enjoying racing anymore is some kind of explanation? Me saying I don't enjoy his explanation is more explaining than he did.flyer14-11-2026
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