Red Bull also extended the contract of 25-year-old Florian Lipowitz until 2027 and that of 22-year-old Giulio Pellizzari to 2028. Lipowitz finished third in last year’s Tour de France while Pellizzari won a stage of the Vuelta and finished sixth in the GC. We know what triple ITT world champion Evenepoel and five-time Grand Tour winner Roglič can do. Red Bull is loaded with talent, Grand Tour talent, expensive talent, as its budget for next year is reportedly around €45 million, just below the €50 million estimated for UAE Team Emirates–XRG and Visma–Lease a Bike.
They brought in Evenepoel for the same reason the 26-year-old Belgian rider let himself be seduced: to win the Tour de France. That was a lot of money to bet on a long shot – because, let’s face it, that’s what Evenepoel will be until he demonstrates that he can beat Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard. In the six Grand Tours he has ridden, twice in each one, he finished third in the 2024 Tour (behind Pogačar and Vingegaard), but abandoned the race last year under mysterious circumstances; won the 2022 Vuelta and finished 12th the following year; and he did not finish the two Giros that he started.
That’s far from a convincing record. Perhaps that’s why he will be sharing race leadership with Lipowitz, who finished third in last year’s Tour (as well as seventh in the 2024 Vuelta and a DNF in that year’s Giro). I believe that, no matter what they say publicly, the directors want to see the strong German ride in support of the mercurial Belgian. But they are also hedging their bets: If Evenepoel lapses, they will have the slower but more durable Lipowitz to go for another podium finish.
Evenepoel apparently sees nothing but benefits in the shared race leadership, telling Sporza, “If we go with a plan, we just have to think about the benefits. Florian and I are both very ambitious, but we’re two different riders. I’m more explosive, Florian has to get going like a diesel. We’re polar opposites, and together that can only work out well. We need to complement each other and not work against each other to achieve the goal of this team: to win the Tour one day.”
Anyone who recalls last year’s Giro and how the shared UAE Team Emirates–XRG leaders fared in that race will be more than a little sceptical. Asked if he can win the Tour in 2026, Evenepoel replied, “Yes,” and quickly added: “If everything continues to go well, and if I can have a really good winter, good training camps, and the points I’m looking for in the races in the spring.” Later in the interview,Evenepoel declared: “I want to be better than [Pogačar].” Well, of course he does; if he isn’t, he won’t win the Tour. Can he do it this year? I doubt it.
Lipowitz was also positive about riding with Evenepoel, saying, “Having riders like this elevates the whole team. You push each other every day in training and racing. That’s how you grow. I’m just looking forward to a good race calendar. As long as I have that, I can focus on my goals and the team’s goals. It doesn’t matter if someone else is also racing for victories – it makes the team stronger.”
On its website, Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe has mapped out a very straightforward strategy: “Thepodium is the goal at every Grand Tour.” To that end, they will deploy another leadership duo to the Giro d’Italia, Pellizzari and Jai Hindley. They could be facing Vingegaard, who has said that he’d love to win the Giro to have the full set of Grand Tour victories. Hindley won the Giro in 2022, and Pellizzari twice finished on the podium on Giro stages, so he’s got the chops – and it’s his home race. But expect him to ride in support of Hindley, unless the Aussie falters.
There will be only one Red Bull leader in the Vuelta, Roglič, who has won the race four times and does not like to share his toys. Can he win it again? This will likely be the last race of his career, so he will be highly motivated. But he’ll be racing against Pogačar’s former Tour de France lieutenant João Almeida, who finished second to Vingegaard in last year’s Vuelta and has yet to win a Grand Tour. So it won’t be easy.
Asked at a media day about not riding in the Tour, the now 36-year-old Slovenian was realistic. “I would love it if you have it there to sign, and if I can choose one race to win, I would sign [for] the Tour de France. I mean, it’s not a secret, but… the reality is different… If you ask me straight: I’m second in the GC of the Tour or winning the Vuelta, what will I choose? I [would choose winning] the Vuelta.”
The problem for Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe is that there are currently a number of excellent young and hungry Grand Tour riders in the peloton – and Roglič is 36 years old. If all Red Bull wants is three podium finishes, then it is certainly doable. But setting the bar so low after spending all that money – remember that the team known then as Jumbo-Visma won all three Grand Tours in 2023 – is a two-edged sword: If you don’t succeed, the year will be considered a failure.
