Marco Haller: When one door closes another opens
'Dropped like a hot potato' by Red Bull, the Austrian is ready for the next chapter in his distinguished career 🇦🇹 🇨🇭
Two days after being part of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s winning team at the Criterium du Dauhpiné, Marco Haller was told that his contract would not be renewed for 2025. To compound the initial feelings of disappointment came a sense of confusion, with the team also insisting that the Austrian was still needed for the Tour de France just a couple of weeks later.
Good enough for the biggest race in the entire calendar but surplus to requirements after three years of loyal service. How does that compute?
Luckily for Haller, he didn’t have to wait long for interest to appear, and following a flurry of conversations with teams, Tudor Pro Cycling quickly became the squad of choice for the 33-year-old allrounder.
“It’s not the first time in my career that I’m changing teams, but I have to admit that with Tudor Pro Cycling, it’s pretty exciting because from what I’ve seen already, it’s a brilliant project, and I’m happy to join them,” Haller told us when we caught up with him ahead of his first December camp with his new team.
“The exact role I have still needs to be decided because at the December camp, we’ll fine-tune the racing programme, but for the Classics, I’ll play a part, and maybe I’ll be involved in the lead-out as the second or third last guy. I hope that I can still do a Grand Tour because I personally like them the most, but we’ll see where my abilities are needed the most,” he added.
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According to Haller, the chance to link up with the second-tier team from Switzerland was an easy decision to make. He bought into their vision, even before he was aware that Julian Alaphilippe had signed with the team, but he still couldn’t quite wrap his head around Red Bull’s decision to let him go.
“Frankly said, there was no place for me in Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. That’s what they said before the Tour de France. I had to look for different objectives, and I had to open up discussions with several teams, but I need to admit that the conversation that I had with the CEO of the Tudor team, Raphael Meyer, was definitely the most exciting one. It felt like the best place for me in my career and the best place for me as a rider,” Haller told us.
“It’s still something that I still don’t understand today,” he said of Red Bull’s decision to let him go but still select him for the Tour.