Cycling
How football helped inspire Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe’s Classics surge
Zak Dempster, Chief of Sports at Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe cycling team, explains how small changes inspired by football have created a culture that is allowing riders to perform at their best.
Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe are off to their best Classics start since the era of Peter Sagan, and the secret behind the surge isn’t just in the legs, it’s also in the "locker room".
After a dominant opening weekend that saw the team take more UCI points than any other squad, Dempster revealed in an interview released by the team that a cultural change inspired by professional football has turned a group of "individual riders" into a real tactical unit.
The power of togetherness
Tim van Dijke scored third place at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
© Twila Federica Muzzi/Red Bull Content Pool
The shift began with the arrival of two new Sports Directors, Sven Vanthourenhout and Shane Archbold, who have focused more on shared team spaces instead of everyone doing things alone. Dempster pointed to "small changes inspired by football," like adding a shared physio room.
"Riders recover together, watch race replays, laugh and hang out," Dempster explained. "That creates a different vibe compared to last year. It builds togetherness. That environment matters a lot."
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A shift in mindset
Far stronger as a team
© Twila Federica Muzzi/Red Bull Content Pool
The team's results on the road, including Tim van Dijke’s podium at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Jordi Meeus’s win at Le Samyn, can be viewed as direct results of a new mental shift within the team, according to Dempster.
He says the Classics are especially tough, both technically and emotionally, which makes team chemistry something you really need, not just a nice extra. "The biggest change is the mindset," he said. "You’re stronger as part of a solid team than alone."
Moving past the "same jersey" era
All the riders are benefitting from the team's 'locker room' culture
© Maximilian Fries/Red Bull Content Pool
The transformation also marks a clear move away from 2025, Dempster says. Referring to an assessment from rider Laurence Pithie, he admitted that the team previously worked more like "a group of guys in the same jersey racing the same race."
By building a "locker room" culture where riders review races and relax together, Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe are trying to replace individual ambition with a united team. And right now, they’re shaping up as the team to beat as the peloton heads toward the white roads of Tuscany and beyond to the tough cobbles of Flanders and Roubaix.
