"We have not been able to further develop the talents we have signed." Ralph Denk hopes to improve the impression of his team with a Giro d'Italia victory

With five-time Grand Tour winner Primoz Roglic, there cannnot possibly be doubts about who will lead the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe's charge at the upcoming Giro d'Italia. The Slovenian who has won Giro d'Italia in 2023 is also the go-to favourite this year with the Spanish riders Juan Ayuso and Mikel Landa as the main challengers.

In case of a victory, it wouldn't be the first time for the German WorldTour formation as they refer to Jai Hindley as the 2022 Giro winner. The Australian is also part of the selection, but this time comes to Corsa Rosa as a key support rider for Roglic.

"We have already won the Giro, have been on the podium in second place and would of course be happy to finish on the podium again," said team boss Ralph Denk in a press release, emphasizing his team's ambitious goals for the first three-week tour of the year.

Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe made massive moves on the transfer market last winter, aiming to bolster the German team's Classics lineup with the signings of Maxim Van Gils, Oier Lazkano, Van Dijke twins or Laurence Pithie. However those goals were not met this spring. Chased by injuries and illness, the team rode an anonymous Classics campaign.

"We have not been able to further develop the talents we have signed," the German concluded, referring to disappointing results in races such as the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

Denk's initial assessment of Red Bull's involvement as co-sponsor is nevertheless positive: The decision remains "very, very good." At the same time, however, he emphasized that there is still a lot of room for improvement internally. "As an organization grows, it becomes more complex to adjust the details. It takes time for all the small cogs to mesh smoothly," explained the team leader.