Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe Rookies announce roster and it's stacked with talent
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe Rookies announce roster and it's stacked with talent
11 riders, 9 nationalities and the dream of producing Tour de France winners
Hi subscribers,
This morning was derailed by the news that Ineos Grenadiers might link up with an existing German development squad for 2025.
We’re back on course now and continuing the week with this short write-up on the new Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe Rookies squad for next season.
We reported on several of the names in the summer but the team today announced the complete 11-rider roster.
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Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have announced the complete roster for their new U23 team. Branded as the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe Rookies, the squad will form the bridge between the existing junior project and the men’s WorldTour squad.
Four riders from the junior team have graduated to the ‘Rookies’ including world junior road race champion Lorenzo Finn.
We already broke the news of the Italian’s future in early September, and that he would be joined by Paul Fietzke, Romet Pajur and Theodor August Clemmensen from the junior team.
Meanwhile, Luke Tuckwell, Adrien Boichis and Callum Thornley have moved across from the Trinity Racing squad, which is set to close at the end of the current campaign.
They will be joined by Davide Donati, Lennart Jasch, Marco Martín, and Sebastian Putz.
Finn is the youngest rider on the team, coming in at just 17 years old. The team will be managed by former Slovenian pro, Gregor Gazvoda.
John Wakefield, the Director of Development at the team was instrumental in building the squad.
“The leap from the U19 category straight into the WorldTour is a big one. With the new U23 team, we are creating a much smoother development process from U19 to the pro ranks. Just like the U19 team, the U23 squad will compete in the key races on the calendar, offering the best opportunities for growth. Next season, Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe will have the most complete and seamless talent development program in professional cycling,” he said on Monday.
We interviewed Wakefield during the summer, just as he was putting the finishing touches to his 11-rider squad. He confirmed that the plan was to develop world-class riders, and a potential Tour de France winner within the next five years.
"“The ultimate goal for every team is the Tour, so our goal over the next five years is to have the next Tour winner come through either the U19 or U23 teams. Or it’s to find the next Mattieu Van der Poel. That’s essentially what our vision is,” he said.
It’s clear that the Rookies management have not simply bought the 11-best GC riders at the U23 level in the hope that they would strike gold. Instead they’ve constructed a well-rounded squad with the aim of riders overlapping and complimenting each other.
Read more: Developing a Tour de France winner in five years: Inside Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s new U23 project
Boichis is a world and European champion in mountain biking and one of the most highly-rated riders France has produced in the last few years. Clemmensen is a strong all-rounder and won a stage and the overall at the Grand Prix Rüebliland before cracking the top-ten at the Worlds.
Donati can time trial and sprint, having won the Gran Premio della Liberazione this year and the junior Chrono des Nations in 2023. Fietzke was fourth in the Worlds and third in the TT at the Euros. A punchy climber, he’s been second in the junior Worlds before and made the top-ten in Paris-Roubaix (juniors) twice in the last two years.
Finn is a complete all-rounder, and along with his rainbow jersey success this season won the national junior road race and time trial in Italy.
Jasch is the oldest rider on the team at 23 and came into the sport relatively late after a career in speed skating.
Martín only turned 18 this month but has enjoyed a breakout season in Spain as part of the Café Baqué team. He looks like a very promising climber.
Pajur has been racing in Germany this season for Team Lotto Kern-Haus PSD Bank. Strong against the clock, he was beating Jarno Widar back in 2023.
Putz has raced for the Tirol team over the last two seasons, while Thornley had an outstanding ride in the Tour of Britain, where he won the KOM jersey. Finally, Tuckwell, finished tenth overall in the Giro d'Italia Next Gen and sixth at the Ronde de l'Isard.
I’m Daniel Benson and I’m the former Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews, GCN, and VeloNews. I’ve recently set up a Substack with the aim of delivering you regular news, interviews, rider transfers and race analysis. To subscribe to my Substack please drop your email in the box below, and to find out more about what I’m doing please click here.