"If there is a top, top rider on the market next year, maybe now we can sign them" - BORA DS describes new possibilties with Red Bull on board

The battle for potential Grand Tour contenders is becoming more and more intense, with teams look for promising talents from very young age. Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe already have secured the services of four-time grand tour winner Primoz Roglic until 2025, however the head sports director Rolf Aldag ensures that the ambitions don't stop there and the team is already looking further into future.

The best shot at acquiring a top GC contender would come in 2026 when Remco Evenepoel's current contract at Soudal - Quick-Step will run out. "With Red Bull, it means if there is a top, top rider on the market next year, maybe now we can sign them," Aldag told Velo. "That would take the stress off the whole organization if we have a winner for the next two, three, four years. It’s not like we are going to say if there are top, top riders on the market that we are not interested."

But Aldag looks even beyond potential replacement for Roglic, as he'd ideally prefer to grow the next Tour winner within the team's own development structure. "If you just plan eight years from now, OK, we know that you’re 17 now, but you must win the Tour de France in six years," Aldag said. "If we can have some consistency already from 2025 and beyond, that will mean these younger riders don’t have the pressure to do it now."

The ideal scenario would involve buying Tadej Pogacar or Jonas Vingegaard out of their contracts, however Aldag recons that's not really possible. "If you say you want to win the Tour de France, no matter what, you’re competing against teams with a lot of money," Aldag said. "If you say, OK, I want to buy Tadej Pogacar out of his contract, you face the Emirates when money will not shock them at any case. In the past, it has been easier to buy riders."