"I was quite surprised to read that we had promised him co-leadership" - BORA - hansgrohe DS denies Emanuel Buchmann's claims as fallout continues
Cycling
The fallout continues from BORA - hansgrohe's reveal of their Giro d'Italia 2024 lineup and the controversial omission of German National Champion, Emanuel Buchmann.
Revealing his frustrations at being snubbed, Buchmann took to Instagram after the team was revealed for the first Grand Tour of the year. "I can not describe my disappointment and frustration to be not nominated for the Giro d'Italia this year. All year was planned for the Giro and even BORA - hansgrohe promised me the Co-Leadership for the GC. The training went well, the shape is good," he lamented. "The last three weeks at the Teide I wanted to do the last preparation, but 16 days before the start of the Giro I got the call that I won't be in the lineup."
After a BORA - hansgrohe spokesperson told Eurosport on Tuesday how the team's plans were forced to change to a training crash of Lennard Kamna, sports director Enrico Gasparotto has elaborated further in conversation with Sporza. "That means he really wanted to be in the Giro. We need riders who go for it," he says. "I was quite surprised to read that we had promised him co-leadership. That is something new for us. It is not right. During the first meeting with the riders in November, we discussed that Daniel Martinez and Lennard Kämna would be our two classification men in the Giro."
"I called Buchmann and explained to him that we have adjusted our strategy somewhat due to Kämna's failure," Gasparotto continues. "As a team we want to go to the Giro with versatile riders who can win from the break. That was the reason why we brought Jonas Koch into the Giro selection. He can climb and is fast enough to win a sprint from a thinned-out peloton."
During his own time in the peloton, Gasparotto himself was once in a similar position as Buchmann and as such, can empathise with the German's reaction. "In 2018 I was 3rd in the Amstel and 6th in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. My team Bahrain Merida then decided 1 week before the Giro to remove me from the selection. I was also disappointed at the time," he recalls. "But if a team's strategy changes due to certain things that have happened in recent months, the riders must understand and accept that."
Why giving him a promise you cannot keep? Stop lying to your riders, ffs! Buchmann is not a happy man, that the team lied to him, unbelieveable! Jeez, Louis! Bora, never really like circus fiascos, but they did creating two of them, one with Cian, and the other one with Buchmann. I would be mad, if someone lied to me like what happened to Buchmann. Apperently Bora seems to forgotten to remember, the golden rule: Never ever made promises you cannot keep. No wonder Buchmann is angry at Bora. That is understandable. The team promised him something that would never going to happened. Riding for Bora at Giro D'Italia as an out and out lead out man.
Bora has never seemed like a clown show, but jeez. First the drama with Cian, which they also claimed blindsided them, and now this. Part of the problem is that they have a bunch of roughly comparable riders. When the team was organized around Sagan, there was less of this because it was clear what the pecking order was. But while Vlasov, Buchmann, Hindley, and others are all good riders, none are good enough to establish themselves as the clear Alpha. It seems that Bora has not managed this very well, and while Roglic is now the top guy, the tensions is still there between the others.
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- 👍💪👍😊VgnRider13-03-2025
- Jonas shouldn't have been attacking the GC leader from his team ! Selfish !frieders313-03-2025
- Why do you keep attacking your GC leader from your team? Vuelta all deja vu ! You are pretty selfish Jonas ! Kuss can attest to that ! Now Matteo can as well.frieders313-03-2025
- Really Jonas! Maybe stay home with your kids next time the weather gets tough! And maybe not attack your GC leading teammate as you also did in Vuelta with Kuss !frieders313-03-2025
- He beat Jonas twice this year, which is strange. Jonas doesn't appear to be as dominant as he was early last year before the crash. But the climb today wasn't long and hard enough for Jonas.
KerisVroom13-03-2025 - I guess it all depends on who all peaks when during their build-up into the season, so I doubt if it's safe to say that Almeida is really better than Jonas.Ride197413-03-2025
- somewhere Andy Hampten is chuckling thinking "toughen up Jonas".mij13-03-2025
- 2021 Tour, not 2022. Merlier and Philipsen both went. Merlier won stage 3 and was clearly the fastest sprinter. Then they immediately changed the lineup for stage 4 with Merlier working leadout for Philipsen. That led to the first win for Cav that year and jasper came in 3rd. Jasper didn't win a single stage that year. Very odd to me that the team neglected the clearly faster rider immediately after winning a stage. Merlier was pretty dominant all of last year from UAE Tour to Euro Championship. The only other bunch sprinter to have a similar level was Milan, and that's continued this year. I can't wait to see those two go head to head at the Tour. Two very different styles for the two current bestEvan12-03-2025
- Sorry you have lost me there again. I can't decifer the point you are making.roadman5412112-03-2025
- Exactly, just showing the boys how you bring your leader back to the front.Mistermaumau12-03-2025