“I wasn’t the talent that everyone thought I was" - Finn Fisher-Black excited for fresh start at Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe

Finn Fisher-Black has long been seen as rider with massive potential. Despite having spells with both Jumbo-Visma and UAE Team Emirates in his career so far though, the 23-year-old Kiwi is yet to fully click. Could his latest transfer, a move to Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe, be what finally unlocks Fisher-Black's true potential?

According to Fisher-Black himself, much of the recent stagnation in his development can be traced back to a femur-breaking crash at the 2022 edition of Boucles de la Mayenne. “It was a really big setback. I was on a good trajectory and making steps but it took the wind out of my sails. I kind of stagnated, I was starting at zero again and had to build up,” he recalls honestly in conversation with Rouleur.

Despite being a dominant force in the junior ranks, Fisher-Black has found elite level victories harder to come by, adding just 4 to his palmares to date. “I wasn’t the talent that everyone thought I was," he assesses of himself. "They thought I was going to just go straight into winning races. It's taken me time to come back to that level. In the last few years it’s gotten better, I managed to win four races in 2024.”

Regardless of the improvement shown in 2024 though, Fisher-Black is confident he's made the right choice in swapping UAE Team Emirates - XRG for Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe. “UAE just had an unbelievable amount of talent. Every year they just bring more and more in. When you're there for a few years, you start to fit into this mould of what the team expects you to be and you start to believe it,” he explains. “I was meant to go to races as a helper a lot of the time, but I’m only 23 and I think I’m too young to settle into that. I've always really needed people that backed me and believed that I could achieve results, especially at the highest level. At UAE, I didn't feel like I really needed to get the results, because we had so many guys that were good. I would go to a race and most of the time another guy from my team would win.”

“It's interesting to leave a team that is already at the top with UAE Team Emirates, so they don’t need to make an effort to get any better. It’s about staying there,” Fisher-Black continues. “Now I have come to a team that really wants to come up the ranks and they are putting effort into every aspect. That’s cool for me and makes it an exciting project to join.”

As such, he's backing himself ahead of the 2025 season getting underway. “My goal this season is just to be winning, especially in the World Tour. I want to focus on the Ardennes and the physiology of those races suits me well. I love the Grand Tours too and that’s when I feel like cycling reaches the rest of the world,” Fisher-Black concludes. “That is the biggest stage, and that’s where I want to be.”