News : Team Bora-Hansgrohe – Raublinger Spitze – Sport

The three riders of the South African team Dimension Data are really to be regretted. With a sprint, they have come to the auditorium of the Brussels Expo site with their spokesman to give the usual press conference before the start of the tour. It's a little late, sorry for the delay, the traffic, but now we can start, and the hall is also quite well filled. But when the speaker asks for questions, hardly anything happens, someone takes pity and inquires after the absent sprinter Mark Cavendish - but then the matter is over quickly.

The many journalists did not come because of Dimension Data. But because of the team, whose employees now quickly equip the stage with sponsor logos: Bora-Hansgrohe from Raubling in Upper Bavaria.

It has long since become normal that the team gets a lot of attention in the cycling scene. Because she is now one of the world's best. Bora scored almost two dozen daily wins in the World Tour in the current season, the team in the ranking of the World Association is second. Also on the tour it is going well again. Class driver Emanuel Buchmann has been a good driver so far and lost no time on the crosswind stage on Monday. He is fifth overall now. The sprinter Peter Sagan in turn took on day five the desired stage victory and has been wearing the green jersey for the best sprinter almost since the start of the tour. Only a fall should prevent him from bringing it to Paris for the seventh time, thus becoming the sole record holder in this category.

Top rider Peter Sagan not only guarantees success, but also attention

There is a pretty remarkable development behind the team, as shown in the timelapse. Now in its tenth year, the team is under the NetApp name, and as a third division, it began back in time when the general horror of the peloton's doping infestation was particularly great. With borrowed camper and "budgetary bottom plate" they drove to the first big race, the Giro 2012, remembers team principal Ralph Denk. When NetApp retired in 2015, it seemed close to being off.

But then Denk first found Bora, producer of kitchen appliances, and later also Hansgrohe, manufacturer of fittings, as a financier. In 2017, the team received the Erstliga license, then it quickly moved to the top of the peloton, especially in the sprint and the classic sector. And that although the officially not mentioned budget is likely to be closer to the world tour average of 18 million euros than in the spheres of some generously-fed teams.

One of the key reasons for the upturn is the current green carrier Peter Sagan. In 2017, the Slovak was signed, the reigning world champion for a team from Raubling, which was already a coup. Sagan not only guaranteed success, but also attention, because hardly anyone in the peloton stands out from the crowd like him. "Everyone looked after Peter, of course, and that was a good thing," says Denk. "In the second line, ten men have grown." The sprinter Pascal Ackermann, 25, is one of them. This year he secured two stages and scoring at the Giro d'Italia; he does not drive the tour. The Austrian Patrick Konrad, 27, or the Italian Davide Formolo, 26, convince in round trips. In winter, Maximilian Schachmann, 25, of Quick-Step, was a classicist. And then there is climber Buchmann, 26, who already aims for a place among the top ten on this tour - and may even dream of even more.